BOOK REVIEW - THE GREEN HORNET: HOW SWEET THE STING
I've been a fan of the 1966-67 television version of the Green Hornet and Kato for literally as long as I can remember; some of my earliest memories are of sitting on my father's knee watching the show with Dad during its original ABC-TV run when I was 3 years old in 1966. That being the case, I like to think I know a little bit about the character portrayed by Van Williams, and for that reason have followed Moonstone's series of Hornet tales with great interest. (I even had the great good fortune to contribute one of those tales myself - a story entitled "Bad Man's Blunder" - to Moonstone's third Hornet anthology, The Green Hornet: Still At Large.)
I say all this by way of preface, in order to share the following observation: Jim Beard's The Green Hornet: How Sweet The Sting is one of the best Hornet stories Moonstone has given us. I particularly enjoyed the way Beard works in references to several of the actual television episodes (including the one that was the basis of the View-Master Hornet reels my parents bought me when I was little), and the way he showcases the character of Lenore Case to a degree she never received (but definitely deserved) in the series.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the book for me is the fact that the Hornet himself is not even the main character this time around. The real protagonist is a fellow named Dane Knoble, home we are told is a former Special Forces soldier who has returned home after serving overseas (in Vietnam, obviously, although that is implied rather than stated outright). Distraught over the condition he finds his old hometown in upon his return, Knoble falls in with one of the local crime bosses; this leads to an encounter with the Green Hornet that lands Knoble in the hospital and seeking revenge...
To say more would be to give too much of the story away. Suffice it to say that his efforts to exact his revenge on the Hornet don't go as planned, in part because of the unexpected love he develops for Casey...
I was already a fan of Beard's work after reading his novels detailing the adventures of that famed action figure-turned-comic book hero, Captain Action. In How Sweet The Sting Beard spins a tale worthy of Van Williams' Hornet, and it is my sincere hope that he gets the opportunity to add another tale or two to the Hornet's annul. Anyone who loves the series as I do will find a great deal to enjoy in this book, believe me.
Let's roll, Kato!
In : Review
Tags: green hornet
John A. Small is an award-winning newspaper journalist, columnist and broadcaster whose work has been honored by the Oklahoma Press Association, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press, the National Newspaper Association, and the Oklahoma Education Association. He and his wife Melissa were married in 1986; they have two sons, Joshua Orrin (born 1991) and William Ian (born 1996).
Mr. Small is the News Editor and columnist for the Johnston County Capital-Democrat, a weekly newspaper headquartered in Tishomingo, OK. He obtained his nickname, "Bard of the Lesser Boulevards," from a journalism colleague - the late Phil Byrum - in recognition of the success of his popular newspaper column, "Small Talk." (In addition to the many awards the column itself has received over the years, a radio version of "Small Talk" earned an award for "Best Small Market Commentary" from the Society of Professional Journalists in 1998.)
John was born in Oklahoma City in 1963; lived in the Bradley-Bourbonnais-Kankakee area of Illinois for most of the next 28 years (with brief sojourns in Texas and Athens, Greece, thrown in to break up the monotony); then returned to his native state in 1991, where he currently resides in the Tishomingo/Ravia area. He graduated from Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School in 1981, and received his bachelor's degree in journalism from Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais in 1991. The years between high school and college were a period frought with numerous exploits and misadventures, some of which have become the stuff of legend; nobody was hurt along the way, however, which should count for something.
In addition to his professional career as a journalist he has published two short story collections: "Days Gone By: Legends And Tales Of Sipokni West" (2007), a collection of western stories; and "Something In The Air" (2011), a more eclectic collection. He was also a contributor to the 2005 Locus Award-nominated science fiction anthology "Myths For The Modern Age: Philip Jose Farmer's Wold Newton Universe," edited by Win Scott Eckert. In additon he has written a stage play and a self-published cookbook; served as project editor for a book about the JFK assassination entitled "The Men On The Sixth Floor"; and has either published or posted on the Internet a number of essays, stories and poems.
He has also won writing awards from the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the National Library of Poetry. He is a past president of the Johnston County Chamber of Commerce in Tishomingo; was a charter member and past president of the Johnston County Reading Council, the local literacy advocacy and "friends of the library" organization; served as Johnston County's first-ever Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator in 1994-95; served two terms as chairman of the Johnston County (OK) Democratic Party; and has taught journalism classes for local Boy Scout Merit Badge Fairs. He is a member of the New Wold Newton Meteorics Society.
