— Bold Venture Press, which specializes in short reprints of pulp fiction — with two short anthologies of Dellinger’s work. In Railroad Stories #1, find “Avalanche,” “Lion Tamer,” and “Tornado.” In Railroad Stories #2, it’s “Washout,” “Mixed Orders,” “Boomer Trails,” “Landslide,” and “Snowed In.” These tales live up to the back cover blurb copy, which reads, “exciting tales of rugged workers and the challenges they face moving across country and back.” The publisher is justified in urging you to “hop a freight, mate — ride the rails toward thrills and romance.” Linda Fairstein: Jump forward, and
Dellinger, under two names — E. S. Dellinger and, because he often had two short stories or novelettes in a single issue of RAILROAD MAGAZINE, Ed Samples — was the most prolific of the fiction writers published in that magazine. As Dellinger, he saw 109 stories in print there, and as Samples he published another 26. Now comes a small publisher
skip the part about having worked for the railroad, and you have a mainstream thriller set in one of the iconic structures from America’s “Golden Age” of rail travel. Okay, the purists among us will cringe at each reference to Grand Central “Station” — which is actually either the nearby post office or subway station — in the promotional materials, but in mixed reader reviews, it is generally praised as an “intelligent and interesting police procedural,” “intriguing,” and the over-used “a good read.” In an irony associated only with railfandom, one critical reviewer complains there is too much Terminal history revealed. “Hrumph!” to you, madam (it was a female reviewer). Number 16 in this author’s series about New York Assistant D.A. Alex Cooper and Detective Mike Chapman, this one sends them into the Terminal’s underground tunnel system and its environs for a serial killer — or is it something more sinister? As the book sits unread at the moment, I
need not post a spoiler alert here for you. But with two magic words associated with it — “trains” and “mystery” — it won’t stay unread for long. All three titles are available on line and where books are sold at retail.
PLEASE SEND QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS on railroad dining, art, and other trackside treats to Jim Porterfi eld at P.O. Box 3041, Elkins, WV 26241, or email
onthemenu@railfan.com.
58 FEBRUARY 2016 •
RAILFAN.COM
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