Funeral arrangements have been posted on the REHupa site.
Barbara Barrett and John O’Neill; Glenn Lord, Nov 17, 1931 – Dec 31, 2011
Mike Chomko; Glenn Lord: Another Giant Passes
Frank Coffman; On the Passing of Glenn Lord
Chris Gruber; Glenn Lord, Howardian Herald, 1931-2011
Dave Hardy; Glenn Lord 1931-2011
Al Harron; Glenn Lord, the Greatest Howard Fan, 1931-2011
Don Herron; Two-Gun Bob: Into the West
Brian Leno; Edited by Glenn Lord
Damon Sasser; Glenn Lord: The Flame of Howard Fandom
Damon Sasser; In Memoriam, Glenn Lord This one has links to several items of interest, including a interview with Glenn.
The Serpent Sea
Martha Wells
Night Shade Books
Trade Paper, 342 p., $14.99
If you’ve read The Cloud Roads, or my review of it, or just looked at the cover of either it or The Serpent Sea, you can probably guess that I’m using the term “sailing” in the title of this review somewhat loosely.
I’ve been looking forward to this book since I read The Cloud Roads last year, and Night Shade Books was gracious enough to send me a review copy. It should be hitting store shelves any day now, if it hasn’t already. I’ve not seen a copy yet, but that doesn’t mean the book isn’t available. You should pick up a copy (of both if you haven’t read the first one). That way you can join me in one of my New Year activities, looking forward to the next book in the series.
The story picks up shortly after the close of The Cloud Roads, with the Indigo Cloud court returning to their ancestral home. This happens to be a Mountain Tree, and the name means exactly what it says. It’s a tree that’s purt near the size of a mountain, as we would say where I hail from. There are entire forests of these things, and they have branches wide enough for herds of herbivores to live on. The sequences with the Mountain Tree, brief though they were, reminded me of Alan Dean Foster’s Midworld, one of my favorite creations.
Unfortunately, Moon, Stone, Jade, and some of the others don’t get to enjoy their new home for long. The tree is dying. Sometime within the last turn, the Three Worlds equivalent of a year, someone broke into the tree and took the seed containing the life essence of the tree, and as a result the tree is dying. Fortunately, the thieves left enough of a trail for them to follow.
What they find is more than any of them expects, with wonders and surprises outside the predictable. Part of the story involves tracking the thieves, but the bulk of it involves trying to retrieve the seed once they locate the parties responsible for taking it. Along the way they encounter a number of races, most we’ve not seen before.
Whereas much of the excitement and suspense in The Cloud Roads came from the threat of the Fell and some intense aerial combat scenes, in The Serpent Sea the suspense comes from the group’s efforts, especially Moon and Stone’s, to locate the seed and retrieve it. The book is no less suspenseful. It’s every bit as good as the first without being repetitive.
Nor is this just a suspenseful novel. The characters continue to grow, as do their relationships, and Wells makes it all look easy. Even some of the characters who only show up for one or two scenes come across as individuals.
Of course, since this book is told from Moon’s point of view, his character development is where the emphasis is. Much of this revolves around Moon trying to make a place for himself in the court, something that becomes harder after the group visits a neighboring court. Moon commits a faux paus that results in Jade having to engage another queen in combat. By the time the book is over, Moon will experience a number of things and will grow into a true leader.
A few weeks ago, Martha Wells wrote in a post on The Night Bazaar, that after her last contract ended in 2007 and five novels “died on the vine”, she was on the verge of giving up writing for good when the book that became The Cloud Roads resurrected itself. I’m glad it did, and I hope those other novels come back and are published, either by Night Shade, someone else, or Martha herself. There was a time, more in science fiction than in fantasy, where authors created detailed worlds or universes, such as Known Space (and especially Ringworld), Dune, or more recently Karl Schroeder’s Virga, places unique and filled with that sense of wonder that seems to be missing from so much of contemporary fantastic literature. The Cloud Roads and The Serpent Sea are brim full of sense of wonder. It would have been a shame if Martha had given up before these books got published. Kudos to Night Shade for publishing her, and the other new writers they’ve brought into print. It’s one of the reasons I listed Night Shade as a publisher to read in 2012.
As I mentioned, there are a number of races in the Three Worlds. I hope when Martha is done telling the story of Moon, or if she just wants to take a break, she’ll introduce us to more of them. The Three Worlds is a fascinating place, and I, for one, am eager to explore more of it. With these books Wells is writing at the top of her game, and given their breath, originality, and complexity, this series is showing indications it could become one of the landmark series of the genre.
I’m limiting my list to four (plus a runner-up) because these are the publishers whose books I’ve most enjoyed this year. If you’ve read my post from yesterday, you can probably guess which ones won’t be on there. I’m deliberately not including small presses that publish pricey limited editions, even if they also publish trade editions. I’m limiting the list to imprints you can find in a local bookstore. Also, there’s at least one publisher not on the list because I simply didn’t get around to reading any of their books this year, and that’s Orbit. I’ve enjoyed things they’ve published in the past, and have several books in the TBR stack from them. What I’ve read of Orbit’s line I’ve generally enjoyed, and I expect that to be the case with what I have on hand.
One thing to note about all the publishers on the list. Roughly a decade, to use round figures, is about as long as any of these publishers have been around, although one or two have existed slightly longer than that. Some are much younger. All of them are lean, efficient, and not afraid to take chances with what they publish. And their books don’t look like all their other books.
Here’s the way I’m structuring this list. I’ll list the publishers in reverse order, starting with the runner-up (along with an explanation of why that publisher isn’t number 5), with a few recommendations from their line along with a list of some of what I’ll be reading from them in the coming months. I’ll confine myself to three, at most four, recommendations and TBRs, even though in most cases the actual number is greater. Links will be to the books’ webpages, not any reviews I’ve posted; there’ll be a comprehensive list of reviews at the end of the post. For series, I’ll only list the first volume. A book’s being included in the TBR listing is not a guarantee I’ll review it here or at Futures Past and Present.
Runner-up: Prime Books. The reason I’m calling Prime the runner-up is somewhat awkward. You see, I haven’t actually finished any of their books, at least none that I’ve bought in the last few years. Not that I’ve disliked any of the books, but that they’ve all been anthologies, and I have a really bad habit of dipping into an anthology between novels, reading a selection of stories, then putting the anthology down for an extended period of time before coming back to it. So I’ve got a number of anthologies sitting around unfinished. (I really need to break that habit.) Prime does publish novels, and I have some in the TBR list (which I promise I will finish). Their ebooks are reasonably priced, with most in the $4.95 range, and unlike many higher priced ebooks from larger publishers, the TOCs are interactive. Highlights of what I have read portions of include Rich Horton’s annual Best Science Fiction and Fantasy series, which I’m waay behind on, and Paula Guran’s annual Best Dark Fantasy and Horror series, which I’m not as far behind on. Many of the their recent anthologies have been themed reprint anthologies.
Recommendations: It’s hard to recommend something you haven’t finished, but you could hardly go wrong with any of the Year’s Best, either the science fiction and fantasy or the dark fantasy and horror.
TBR: When the Great Days Come by Gardner Dozois, Heart of Iron by Ekaterina Sedia, Mechanique by Genevieve Valentine
Number 4: Abaddon/Solaris These are two imprints of the same company, with the former having a dark focus and the latter a less grim tone. Either way, you can’t go wrong. There’s enough solid science fiction, fantasy, and horror in a wide variety of subgenres here to keep anyone busy. The company is British, so many of the author’s names might not be familiar to American readers. Don’t let that stop you; British authors have a slightly different perspective on things, which I find quite refreshing at times. Check their website, and I’m sure you’ll find several things appealing.
Recommendations: Hawkwood’s Voyage (in the omnibus Hawkwood and the Kings) by Paul Kearney, Engineering Infinity edited by Johnathan Strahan, and Viking Dead by Toby Venables
TBR: Engineman by Eric Brown, The Ten Thousand by Paul Kearney, The Recollection by Gareth L. Powell, Solaris Rising edited by Ian Whates
Number 3: Angry Robot This is another British publisher, and the youngest imprint on the list. Yet in the short time they’ve been around, Angry Robot has embarked on an aggressive program of publishing some of the most ambitious genre-bending books on the market. Their authors come from all over the English speaking world, and some of their most acclaimed titles are by authors from places other than the US or Great Britain. They’re beginning to get nominations for the some of the major awards in the field, including the Hugo and the Ditmar, and winning the Arthur C. Clarke and World Fantasy. This is an imprint to watch. They’re having an ebook sale for the month of January, so now’s your chance to check them out and see what all the commotion is about.
Recommendations: Winter Song by Colin Harvey, Roil by Trent Jamieson, The Crown of the Blood by Gav Thorpe
TBR: The World House by Guy Adams, Book of Secrets by Chris Roberson, Walking the Tree by Kaaron Warren
Number Two: Night Shade This is the publisher on my list that’s been around the longest, but in my opinion they’re only getting better. I didn’t read a great many of their books this year, and the science fiction I read wasn’t exactly to my taste although I understand the appeal of those particular titles. But the fantasy was some of the best I’ve read in years. The characters were all well-drawn, complex individuals, most of whom you could cheer for, including some of the villains, or perhaps I should say antagonists since most weren’t entirely evil. The plots were involved and often twisty, with plenty of action and suspense. Nightshade seems to be focusing on developing new authors at the moment, although one of my favorite authors, who hadn’t been able to get a publishing contract the last few years has signed with them and they’re continuing to reprint much of Glen Cook’s backlist, for which they are to be lauded. All but one of their titles that I read were the first volumes in new series, which is a good thing. I’m excited about what they’ve got coming up this year and will be reading more of their books than I did this past year.
Recommendations: The Winds of Khalakovo by Bradley P. Beaulieu, The Whitefire Crossing by Courtney Schafer, The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells
TBR: Miserere by Teresa Frohock, Southern Gods by John Horner Jacobs, The Serpent Sea by Martha Wells (which I’m reading right now, look for the review in a couple of days)
Number One: Pyr If you read books from only one publisher in 2012, this is the one you should read. This is by far the most impressive and innovative line in all SFF publishing, although the others on this list are giving them increasing competition. If you’ve read many of their books, you understand why editor Lou Anders won the Hugo for Best Editor – Long Form last year. I’ve not read a single book published by Pyr that I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed, something I can’t say about any other publisher. That’s not to say everything they publish is compatible with my taste. They have a few items in their lineup that I can tell are not my thing. And that’s okay; in fact, that’s how it should be. A good publisher will a wide enough selection of product that most readers can find something they like, not cater to a narrow audience. While they tend to focus on series (only makes economic sense), Pyr also publishes stand alone novels and a few anthologies. Their focus has shifted since their inception from science fiction to fantasy, and they’re publishing some of the most exciting fantasy around, especially if you like the heroic variety, which I do.
Recommendations: The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie, Twelve by Jasper Kent, Wolfsangel by M. D. Lachlan, Shadow’s Son by Jon Sprunk
TBR: Blackdog by K. V. Johansen, Ghosts of Manhattan by George Mann, City of Ruins by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Shadow’s Lure by Jon Sprunk
These are the publishers I think are the best in the field right now, and the ones I’ll be reading the most in 2012. That’s not to say I won’t be reading other publishers. I will, just like I listed the indie published authors I’ll be reading in the coming months in a previous post. As I said there, please be patient. That’s a lot of books to read and will require time to complete, and I have other books in the TBR listing from some of these publishers that I didn’t list. I’m sure some of you have your own ideas of which publishers are the ones to be reading, and I’m sure they aren’t the same as mine. That’s okay. Feel free to post a comment letting me know which ones they are. As much good stuff is out there, I’m bound to have overlooked something.
For those who have too much time on their hands might be interested, here are links to the reviews I’ve posted of books by these publishers, arranged by publisher.
Abaddon/Solaris: Hawkwood’s Voyage and The Heretic Kings by Paul Kearney, Engineering Infinity by Jonathan Strahan, Viking Dead by Toby Venables
Angry Robot: Debris by Jo Anderton, Empire State by Adam Christopher, Darkness Falling by Peter Crowther, Winter Song by Colin Harvey, Roil by Trent Jamieson, The Crown of the Blood and The Crown of the Conqueror by Gav Thorpe
Nightshade: The Winds of Khalakovo by Bradley P. Beaulieu, The Whitefire Crossing by Courtney Schafer, The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells
Pyr: “Traveler’s Rest” by James Enge,Twelve, Thirteen Years Later, and The Third Section by Jasper Kent, Wolfsangel and Fenrir by M. D. Lachlan, Shadow’s Son by Jon Sprunk
http://venturebeat.com/2011/12/27/ocean-marketing-how-to-self-destruct-your-company-with-just-a-few-measly-emails/
If this were fiction, no one would believe it. You can’t write this stuff. Ya just can’t.
But as often happens, one party began to take the other for granted, with give and take becoming less give and more take. I was expected to take what was offered, with little or no input. And what was offered weren’t the things that drew me to the relationship in the first place. The relationship became stale, predictable, dull. Furthermore, my wants and needs meant less and less to the other party, with decisions about the things central to the relationship being made with the apparent expectation I should be thankful the other party was there at all. Everything became the same, and I began to be unfulfilled.
I began to seek fulfillment elsewhere, with new partners. And I found it. All the adventure and excitement that first attracted me so many years ago were there, all the-
What’s that? My marriage? It’s just fine, thank you. Why do you ask?
Anyway, we were talking about books and publishing, not my marriage. Over this last year I’ve turned begun to read more and more indie published books, in a variety of formats. I’ve reached the point where I’m really not interested in reading many books published by the big New York houses. It’s all the same stuff, and frankly, most of it doesn’t appeal to me. I mean how many sex-with-dead-things novels can you read without puking? In my case, not many.
And yes, I’m speaking in the most general of terms here. There are exceptions to the above statement; for example I will continue to read Jack McDevitt in hardcover as long as someone publishes him in that format. And I’ll continue to read other a few other authors and books published by the big houses (especially if Barnes and Noble sends me a coupon), but for the most part, I’m going to stick with small to mid-sized presses and independently published authors or authors who are publishing their own backlists. And I’m going to read as many as possible in ebook format.
Ebooks I most definitely will not be buying from major publishing houses unless they’re on sale. Because in addition to publishing the same old same old, the major publishers are gouging on ebook prices. Don’t think so? Then read this post by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, in which she shows that publishers aren’t hurting from ebooks sales as much as they would have us believe. In fact they’re making a profit, and they’re doing it on the backs of their authors, as Kris ably demonstrates. More on that in a minute. My point is that ebook prices are overinflated, and they’re only going to go up, which isn’t sitting well with some people.
I had a chat about ebook prices with Lou Anders at Fencon a few months ago. It was a brief conversation, taking place in the hall at the end of the convention with both of us having to go do other things. Now I like and respect Lou a lot, but he and I aren’t on the same page with ebook pricing. However, to be fair, the conversation was rushed, and I would like to discuss it further with him. Also, he talked about doing ebooks right. Something many of the major houses aren’t doing.
Case in point: A few weeks ago, I was browsing in B&N and came across The Spy Who Came for Christmas by David Morrell. There was an ebook version reasonably priced ($3.99 IIRC) which I bought and downloaded, thinking it would be a nice seasonal read that wouldn’t be too sappy, something not related to either of my blogs that I would simply read for my own pleasure. I’ve not read a great deal of Morrell’s work, but I’ve liked everything I’ve read. The book was 240 pages, according to my Nook. As I got further into the book more formatting errors crept in, words without spaces between them, new paragraphs starting in midsentence, that sort of thing. As I got into the 130s page range, the story seemed to be winding down. I expected a plot twist, something to keep the tale going. Nope, it ended at page 140. I thought maybe there was a second story included. Wrong again. The last 100 pages of the ebook were the last 100 pages of the story, simply reprinted to fill space and make the book appear to be longer than it was.
Yes, you read that correctly. The publisher included the last 100 pages of story twice, and since the story was only 140 pages, including an afterward by the author, that almost doubled the length of the ebook. Either the publisher tried to make the book look longer than it was, or the person responsible converting the book to ebook format didn’t have a clue what they were doing (or both). Regardless of the reason, that’s just completely unacceptable. As I’ve pointed out previously, none of the indie published ebooks I’ve read this year were anywhere near that sloppy.
Traditional big publishers are scared (and they should be), which is why they’re handing authors increasingly draconian contracts. They’re also behind in the game; they should have had ebooks ready to go a long time before now. There’s no excuse for pushing shoddy, poorly formatted product and charging the same amount as a paper copy. Lou Anders talked about Pyr including some interactive formatting that would do things like resize maps when the font size was changed, something I haven’t seen yet in other ebooks. That would be worth paying more for, although not as much as a paper copy. But then Pyr, while priced higher than I would prefer, doesn’t charge as much for their ebooks as they do their print versions.
Understand, I’m not asking for ebooks to be free or only a dollar or two. Much of the cost of the book is in the editing, proofing, copy editing, etc., which is the excuse the major publishers use to justify their ebooks prices.
Yeah. I get that and don’t have a problem with it.
I also get that you’ve got to pay rent on your Manhattan offices. And keep happy your corporate overlords who expect growth every quarter.
Not my problem. There are more quality books published than I could possibly read in two lifetimes, never mind however many years I have left in this one. There’s no reason I should pay those prices for that quality when there is a growing selection of ebooks with more variety (see Emily Casey’s Venn diagram) that are just as good and better formatted being published by small presses and indie authors.
So, not that you’re likely to care, but I’m putting you on notice Tor, Ace, DAW, Del Rey, Harper Collins, Spectra, and all other publishers who think I should pay premium prices for shoddy ebooks, or who charge just as much for a paper copy. I’m not buying from you anymore. In print or electronic formats. At least not unless there’s a coupon or a second hand shop involved.
I can hear the outrage from some of you, saying that by doing this I’m hurting authors. Oh, really? Let’s look at that statement a little more closely, shall we, because by that logic I hurt authors every time I walk into a bookstore. What I’m doing is deciding where I’m going to spend my money based on perceived value of the product. When I go to a bookstore to buy a book, I consider several things, such as author, genre, subgenre, and price. And I buy what I consider to be the best value. I leave all the other volumes on the shelves. Am I hurting some authors because I decide their books aren’t a good value for me and don’t buy them? No more than anyone else does who chooses one book over another.
And by saying I’m not buying anything from certain publishers (other than a few exceptions for favorite authors and bloody few of those), I’m not hurting those publishers’ authors for the reasons explained in the previous paragraph. Instead I’m helping other authors who are publishing their own stuff, who get more money from the sale (even at a lower price) than they would with a large publisher. As I understand the math, if I spend the same amount of money I have been, only I buy more books at lower prices, more authors will make more money per sale than they would through a traditional publisher. In my economy that’s a good thing.
I’m still going to buy from traditional publishers, just not most of the big boys. I’ll have a list of publishers I’ll be buying a lot from in 2012 in an upcoming post.
In the meantime, I’ve got indie/small press published books by the following authors to read (in no particular order; links are to author pages rather than books): Ty Johnston, Charles Gramlich, David J. West, Barry Nugent, Stephen D. Sullivan, Ken St. Andre, Chris Northern, Katherine Eliska Kiimbriel, Todd Shryock, James Hutchings, Moses Siregar III and Charles R. Saunders. Just to name a few. If you’re name is in this list, and I choose to review one of your books, I’ll send you an email. Please be patient; that’s a lot to read, and those are only the indie/small press items in the TBR stack.
For those you who are gluttons for punishment interested, here are links to all the reviews of indie/small press books I’ve done in the last year in reverse chronological order: The Paths of Righteousness by James Reasoner, Strange Worlds edited by Jeff Doten, Stones by Gerald So, Dark Heroes edited by Jessy Marie Roberts, Age of Giants Awakenings by Rob Reasor, Tisarian’s Treasure by J. M. Martin, Dreams in the Fire edited by Mark Finn and Chris Gruber, Gods of Justice edited by Kevin Hosey and K. Stoddard Hayes, The Ladies of Trade Town edited by Lee Martindale.
I also published a review of The Roads to Baldairn Motte by Craig Comer, Ahimsa Kerp, and Garrett Calcaterra at Rogue Blades Entertainment.
Cross Plains Universe
Scott A. Cupp and Joe R. Lansdale, ed.
Monkey Brain Books
296 p.
Given free to attendees of the 2006 World Fantasy Convention
In all the hubbub earlier this year about all the anniversaries related to Robert E. Howard, one seems to have been overlooked. This year marked the fifth anniversary of the publication of Cross Plains Universe, an anthology put together to mark the Robert E. Howard centennial as well as the 30th anniversary of Lone Star Universe, an anthology of Texas writers.
Now as anniversaries go, the fifth isn’t all that big a deal unless you forget and your wife has to remind you. (Can I get an “Amen” from the brethren?) Also, this book was never made for sale to the general public, at least as far as I know. If you weren’t able to attend the 2006 World Fantasy Convention in Austin or one of the following Howard Days, where the book was made available in the gift shop, you probably haven’t seen a copy. I’d even wager that many of you might not be aware of its existence.
If you are able to score a copy, do so. It’s worth your while. A brief perusal of the contents will show you why.
After an introduction by Scott Cupp, Ardath Mayhar leads off the stories with “The Pillar in the Mist”, the tale of a young Briton who has to prove his prowess as a warrior on the moors one night. Rick Klaw and Paul O. Miles give an interesting alternate history take on the pulps in “A Penny a Word”, while in “Slim and Swede and the Damned Dead Horse: A Tale of Bloodson” C. Dean Anderson mixes two of Howard’s favorite genres, western and sword and sorcery. Bradley Denton provides poetry in “The King Comes to Texas.” Howard is resurrected from the grave in “An Excerpt from The Stone of Namirha” by Bill Crider and Charlotte Laughlin. “Two Hearts in Zamora” by Jessica Reisman is the story of a pair of girls who find themselves in a dangerous land. Co-editor Scott Cupp provides a weird western with “One Fang”.
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| l. to r., Cupp, Reasoner, Crider, Lansdale |
One of Saddam Hussein’s sons meets an end not seen on the evening news in “The Bunker of the Tikriti” by Chris Nakashima-Brown. Gene Wolfe tells the tale of “Six From Atlantis”, while Mark Finn lets us know why a Conan movie wasn’t made in the early 70s in “A Whim of Circumstance”. James Reasoner’s contribution is a twisty El Borak story, “Wolves of the Mountains”. The incomparable Howard Waldrop tells what happens when some seniors make a trip across the border in “Thin, on the Ground”. Grandchildren learn about their grandmother’s encounter with a warrior king in Carrie Richerson’s “The Warrior and the King”. Lillian Stewart Carl provides a historical adventure in “The Diamons of Golkonda” while “Prince Koindrinda Escapes” is an alternate history tale with giant apes from Jayme Lynn Blashke.
L. J. Washburn tells how a young Bob Howard helps solve a murder in Cross Plains during the oil boom with “Boomtown Bandits”. Chris Roberson’s “The Jewel of Leystall” is an installment in his Paragaea series, and very much in the vein of Howard. Neal Barrett, Jr. tells a tall tale in “The Heart”, while Lawrence Person explains why you don’t mess with “The Toughest Jew in the West”. “The Sea of Grass on the Day of Wings” by Melissa Mia Hall is a meditation on Howard’s final hours. Finally, Michael Moorcock gives us the story of Ronan the Red Archer in “The Roaming Forest”.
As you can tell, the contents of this anthology are quite varied, with stories told in the style of Howard, using new characters, characters and settings previously created by the contributors, Howard’s characters, and even Howard himself. All of the contributors are from Texas or resided there at the time of writing, which is why some of the names may not be familiar to you.
ABE currently shows 11 copies available with prices ranging from a steal to a gouge. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that unsigned copies of this book are rare. With the exception of Gene Wolfe and L.J. Washburn, all the contributors, including artist Gary Gianni, were at the WFC and participated in the mass signing, and Washburn sent signed bookmarks with her husband James Reasoner. Before you buy a copy online, check to make sure you’re getting a signed copy.
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| Site of Ratliff’s lynching |
In short, four men robbed the First National Bank in Cisco, Texas on Friday, December 23, 1927. The men were Marshall Ratliff, Henry Helms, Robert Hill, and Helm’s brother-in-law, Louis E. Davis. The men started from Wichita Falls, in Northwest Texas. They chose the bank in Cisco because Ratliff’s mother once ran a cafe there, and he knew the city. To keep from being recognized, Ratliff wore a Santa suit into the bank.
Things went wrong from the get-go. The end result was 14 causulties, including 6 fatalies, three people (all children or teens) kidnapped, two gun battles, and the first manhunt from the air in the state. Davis died of his wounds received in the first gun battle, Helms went to the electric chair, and Ratliff was lynched after killing a deputy sheriff in an attempted jail break.
The whole thing almost reads like a movie script, one with equal measures of drama and comedy, especially if the Keystone Kops are involved. It amazes me that law enforcement couldn’t catch wounded men driving on the rims because the tires have been shot out. Twice, the second time ending in a chase on foot. Two of the three crooks still on the loose got away; Ratliff was wounded in the leg and captured. The photo below shows the posse after capturing Hill and Helms in Graham. Hill is the man in the front row to the right of center with his arm in his dark coat; Helms is the man on his left looking down.
The competency of the bank robbers wasn’t much better. Ratliff was mobbed by children who thought he was Santa as he walked to the bank. The robbers had to abandon the getaway car shortly after leaving the scene of the crime because they didn’t think to check the fuel level before the robbery and ran out of gas. They were so intent on transferring their hostages to the next car that they forgot to transfer the money and left it in the original car. Getting turned around in the dark after spending the night hiding in the country, they drove back into Cisco to steal another car (one the police wouldn’t be looking for) thinking they were driving into Breckenridge. The two remaining robbers surrendered in Graham; they hadn’t eaten in days and were too weak to resist. The whole thing sounds like one of Donald E. Westlake’s caper novels.
To get full details, read Damon’s post or see Gangster Tour of Texas by T. Lindsay Baker (filled with photos and maps) or A. C. Greene’s The Santa Claus Bank Robbery for further details. The Baker book is a tour book of gangster sties in Texas. The bank in Cisco still exists, although it’s in a different location. Other than the site of the first Hilton hotel (yes, that Hilton), the bank robbery is Cisco’s only real claim to fame.
The reason I’m bringing this crime up is because on Christmas Eve 1950, a highly fictionalized dramatization of the story with the title “Christmas Present” was broadcast on Tales of the Texas Rangers, a Dragnet-style radio program. I heard it rerun the other day on satellite radio while driving my son to meet his grandparents.
The show took great liberties with the story, moving the story to 1931 and reducing the number of bank robbers to two men and one woman accomplice. Both of the men wore Santa suits and pretended to be charity bell ringers, with one relieving the other. The story also introduced a poverty stricken man who had been duped into renting the Santa suits in order to raise money to give his children a Christmas. The thieves are caught with old fashioned detective work, with not a single shot being fired.
As a detective story told with the limits of radio, it was pretty good, even if it didn’t have much resemblance to the facts. One of the consultants on the show was Manuel T. “Lone Wolf” Gonzaullas. Gonzaullas was one of the Rangers in the (unsuccessful) plane search for the bank robbers in the original crime. My last installment of this series focused on a Texas Ranger, so I’ll save Gonzaullas for another time.