Awesome Tales #2: Der Fuerer Mabuse

By R. Allen Leider

World War II, hardboiled cops, and a band of amateur ghost-hunters! It's all here in Awesome Tales #2 !

Awesome Tales returns with a new spine-tingler by R. Allen Leider -- "Der Feurher Mabuse," documents a heretofore unchronicled exploit of Dr. Mabuse, the legendary super-criminal from novels and silent films! As World War II rages onward, the Nazi hierarchy begins questioning Hitler's judgment. Is the mind of Dr. Mabuse pulling the nefarious strings?

Also in this issue: "The Last Redhead" (by John L. French) uses her luscious body as bait and payment for a hitman; In "Cruelty" by C.J. Henderson, a supernatural detective searches a museum for artifacts attracting and ancient evil; KT Pinto's "Something Fishy This Way Comes" features a hokey "ghost tour" turned deadly when real ghosts decide to add some authenticity to the proceedings!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bold Venture Press
• Release date: Jun 24, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370286799

R. Allen Leider

Film reviewer/screenwriter R. Allen Leider began his career in 1970 at CBS news as copy boy for The Walter Cronkite News. In 1973, he became features writer for The Monster Times and went on to work at Show, Celebrity and Glitter magazines and other international publications. In 1984, he created the original story and screenplay for The Oracle (1985), and hosted his own radio show, Cinemascene, on WWFM for five years.He has contributed many short stories for the anthologies, Dark Furies, Hear Them Roar, Crypto-Critters I, Bad Ass Faeries I, and Barbarians at the Jumpgate and The Walrii Project. In 2004, he was co-writer of The Field Guide to Monsters and The Field Guide to Aliens. Presently, he writes and edits the online Black Cat Review. He edits Awesome Tales, a pulp-fiction mini-magazine, and the Wicca Girl-based anthologies The Hellfire Lounge.The first outline for the Wicca Girl project was written in 1961 in high school English class. His photojournalistic work has been syndicated worldwide. He lives in Manhattan with wife Barbara, a professional photographer, and an assortment of Egyptian feline gods.

Book preview

Awesome Tales #2:

R. Allen Leider, editor

Published by Bold Venture Press

www.boldventurepress.com

Cover design: Rich Harvey

Der Fuehrer Mabuse by R. Allen Leider.

Copyright 2015 by R. Allen Leider. All Rights Reserved.

The Last Redhead by John L. French.

Copyright 2015 by Jean Marie Ward. All Rights Reserved.

Cruelty by C.J. Henderson.

Copyright 2015 by R. Allen Leider. All Rights Reserved.

Something Fishy This Way Comes by KT Pinto.

Copyright 2015 by R. Allen Leider. All Rights Reserved.

Awesome Tales TM & Copyright 2015 Black Cat Media. All Rights Reserved.

This book is available in print at most online retailers.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without express permission of the publisher and copyright holder. All persons, places and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to any actual persons, places or events is purely coincidental.

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Table of Contents

Editorial: Mabuse Uber Alles

by R. Allen Leider

Der Fuehrer Mabuse

by R. Allen Leider

The legacy of the mad Dr. Mabuse spreads into the Nazi regime of the 1940’s when Det. Inspektor Lohmann discovers the master of telepathic hypnosis may be manipulating the German war machine!

The Last Redhead

by John L. French

When a seductive redhead sweet-talks Detective Ross into murdering her very wealthy old man, his baser instincts take over. But the promise becomes a deal with the Devil gone very wrong.

Cruelty

by C.J. Henderson

Mr. Nardi’s life is literally turned inside out when he gets involved with an evil beyond his comprehension. No spoilers here. You’ll have to experience this tale for yourself.

Something Fishy This Way Comes

by KT Pinto

Charge fifty bucks a head for a ghost tour ... what could go wrong? But, as usual, a fish rots from the head down.

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Editorial: Mabuse Uber Alles

By R. Allen Leider

"The last sense of crime is to build a domination of crime. Built on the ideal of a world which is sentenced to the downfall. A condition of complete lack of safety and anarchy. When mankind is controlled by the terror of crime, is haunted by dread and appall, then there’s the domination of crime." — Dr. Mabuse

DR. MABUSE is one of the original super criminals of pulp fiction. He is a doctor of psychology who moonlights as a criminal mastermind, manipulating people into cooperating with his schemes through hypnosis, blackmail and trickery.

He’s an evil genius who wants to create a new society with the domination of crime. Mabuse’s ability to hypnotize people seems to be telepathic in nature. He frequently uses this power to cause other people to play badly in card games, but his power over the minds of others is strong enough to make his enemies commit suicide. Mabuse employs countless minions who manipulate currency, rob banks and extort millionaires.

Later, he was able to see the ghosts of his victims. Mabuse is a creature of darkness devouring the world he overpowers. In addition to these abilities, he is a master of disguise and a clever schemer and manipulator, operating a grand network of operatives throughout Berlin. Mabuse is also a master of disguises. Mabuse shares a similarity to, and is a derivative of, Sherlock Holme’s nemesis Professor Moriarty: They’re both famous scientists and crime lords.

NORBERT JACQUES wrote Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler in 1922. His concept of an omnipotent criminal wasn’t new: Marcel Allain’s Fantomas, Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Moriarty all predate Mabuse. But Jacques designed Mabuse to probe modern society — specifically tumultuous interwar Germany. Norbert Jacques’ novel, Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler was adapted to the screen by Lang and his wife.

Although the novel was a best-seller at the time, Jacques was convinced by director Fritz Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou to discontinue his plans for a literary series in exchange for a movie sequel to the hit 1922 film. The three went on to conceive Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse (1933), also starring Rudolf Klein-Rogge as Mabuse. Lang’s final film, Die Tausend Augen des Dr. Mabuse (1960), picked up the character once more and rounded up the trilogy. However, even when the police liquidate Mabuse’s gang, the boss escapes.

Haunted by visions of his victims, Mabuse literally goes mad, destroyed not by opponents but personal overreach. Yet as any student of pulp fiction could tell you, villains like Mabuse aren’t so easily beaten.

HERE, now, is a new, fresh adventure of Dr. Mabuse and his arch-enemy Det. Inspekor Lohmann, whose fascination with the criminal mastermind, is, perhaps, his flaw, his Achilles heel, which is why Mabuse is still alive in a German asylum and a force to be reckoned with. In the early days of World War II, Germany the Nazis were fertile ground for Mabuse’ powers and lust for domination….oh, yes!

Der Fuehrer Mabuse

by R. Allen Leider

Two of history’s greatest villains join forces—or do they? Detective Lohmann fights Dr. Mabuse and the Nazis! An original fiction tale written especially for this issue!

Nazi Germany. Berlin, 1940

Inspektor Karl Lohmann dashed about the Luitpol Hall checking all the security precautions before Der Fuehrer was to give his semi-annual speech. Lohmann’s assistant Lt. Hans Strang quickly walked the bomb sniffing K-9 Fritz up and down the aisles of the massive auditorium. Outside, more than 20,000 people had already lined up, checked by security guards and prepared for their lifetime experience to see the leader of the German people in person. Half of the assembled throng was,