Australis Incognito

AUSTRALIS INCOGNITO

Created by Brad Mengel

Characters:

The Dingo – Brent Wentworth 

Risque III – Devin Wentworth 

Risk – Paige Wentworth 

The Knight Errant – Richard Cheveral 

The Question Mark II – Lucy Sharpe 

The Cutlass – Bella Lawson 

Risque II – Jasmine Brent 

Risque i – Nikola Palmer

The Bush Ranger – William Wentworth 

The Aggressor – Don Murphy 

The Question Mark I – Mark Weise 

The Sai 

Formed in 1808, Australia has always been protected by Australis Incognito, a loose confederation of heroes fighting against injustice. The original Risque fought crime in 1920s Sydney when the Razor gangs lead by Tilly Devine and Kate Leigh ruled the city. 

In the modern day the latest generation of heroes, The Dingo, The Question Mark II, Risque III, Risk, The Knight Errant, The Cutlass and the Sai uncover a criminal mastermind creating a series of impossible crimes, a teleporting thief, a gang of inept crooks who suddenly pull off flawless heists and a gang war that never happened. Is there a connection to the original Question Mark who disappeared a decade ago?  And how is the original Risque  involved?  It’s a big mystery that needs more than one hero.

         The answers will shake our heroes to their very core and give them the fight of their lives as the secrets long hidden are revealed and the identity of the master criminal is revealed. 

The original Risque appeared in “Strip Poker” by Brad Mengel in  Poker Pulp published by Pro Se Press 2015. 

The modern day heroes appeared in Australis Incognito by Brad Mengel published by Pro Se Press 2019.

Dr. Shadows

DR. SHADOWS

Creator: Teel James Glenn

Anton Chadeaux (Granite Man)

Slugger Harris

Ki Nam Hoon

Han “Hank” Ku Lee (special friend)

Chelsey (?)

Akimi Oyama (College sweetheart)

Retsudo Oyami (Brother of Akimi and Yakuza Boss)

Anton Chadeaux is the son of an oil speculator who traveled the globe to many far-flung wildcat projects. He was something of a wastrel as a youth, a playboy in college who even dabbled in stage magic in his school days, which is where he used the stage name ‘Dr. Shadows.’ After college, when he accompanied his parents on a plane trip to Northern Korea on the Chinese border, the plane was shot down by Chinese bandits in the employ of the Japanese. Chadeaux’s parents were murdered by the bandits after the crash while the paralyzed young man was left for dead. He was found by monks from the hidden Wei Monastery, where the monks immersed him in herbal baths for years that bleached his skin to a pale grey. They nursed him back to health. They first taught him to focus his mind with the ancient art of Sulsa Do that allowed him to re-claim his physical self from the shattered wretch he had been after the crash. After five years, the first three of them completely paralyzed and near death, and then, as his flesh recovered, living a monk’s existence of meditation, fasting, and rigid discipline, he is re- forged to be a master of the ancient art, giving him abilities beyond the common. Now a young man of thirty, and with the guidance of the Abbot, and the treasure of the monastery at his command, he leaves those remote Korean mountains a new, better, and stronger man. A man with a purpose; to help the helpless and be the last hope of the hopeless. He gathers around him a small group of likeminded friends and The Shadows Foundation for Justice is formed. Thus also is born, the granite man, the grey wolf of justice that the world comes to know as the archenemy of evil, Dr. Shadows!

Anton Chadeaux Phd, or otherwise known as Dr. Shadows, was an unusual figure. Handsome and muscular, he wore a perfectly tailored grey suit, sans hat. He would have been the image of health save for a grey pallor to his skin that earned him the other nickname, “the granite man.”

Ki Nam Hoon: Dr. Hoon was from North Korea, broad faced, raw boned and big; taller than most men on the streets of New York. He looked like the peasant he was, still dressing in the long blue robe and loose quilted pants of his mountainous home.

Slugger Harris: A little badger of a man, and co-owner of the Combination Club, is a tough little bantamweight boxer.

Han “Hank” Ku Lee: Her black hair framed an angular face and had an eye-patch over her left eye. Her right eye blazed with the fury that made it easy to imagine her fighting as the granite man’s back up.

There have been several short story/novelettes over the years.

Reserved For Heroes                      CPFS #4 (9/95)                               

The Height of Arrogance                WS #1 (10/96)                               

Shadows of New York                    Books For A Buck (2011)

The World of Dr. Shadows                                                                       

The Height of Arrogance                                                                           

The Devil’s Tiger                                                                                       

Deadeye                                                                                                       

The Scent of Victory                                                                                  

The Chinese Box Mystery

Destiny’s Child                                                                                                                   

Year of Shadows                              Pro Se Press(3/2018)        

The Eye of Darkness                                                                                 

A Personal Demon                                                                                     

Forbidden City Blues                                                                                

Grave Mistake                                                                                             

Isle Macabre                                                                                                

The Velvet Wasp

THE VELVET WASP

Creator: H David Blalock

Characters

Diane Green (Jane Smith – alias. Charlene is stage name)

Walter Evanston (The Angel Club owner)

Vincent Salvatori (The Angel Club manager)

Vic Anderson (Music Conductor)

Adele Fornost (Diane’s room mate)

Captain Sheridan

Sergeant Miller

Marlene Fornost (Adele’s twin sister)

The Outlanders (Local Mob)

Sir (Runs the Mob)

Michael Kravitz (Assistant D.A.)

Edgar Juness (Mayor)

Elaine Juness (Mayor’s wife)

Tom Carlton (Mob muscle)

Nicholas (Doorman)

Mike (Elevator Operator)

Jonathan Morgan

Hercules Hathaway (Local city vigilante)

Crime is rampant in Olympus City, and dominated by corrupt officials and a local mob called the Outlanders. Diane Green, a flaming redhead, sings at the Angel Club under the stage name of Charlene. When her roommate is murdered and Diane discovers diamonds hidden in Adele’s powder compact, she suspects the Outlanders murdered her, and wants revenge. She is a Texas farm girl, and has always taken matters into her own hands. She decides Charlene must disappear, and becomes the Velvet Wasp.

The Velvet Wasp wears a red velvet outfit, hostess pants with black lace trim, a brimless cloche hat over her newly brunette Charleston Cut. To hide her identity she added a Mardi Gras mask. At first her weapon of choice is a .32 Savage. In the second story, the gun was changed to a Berreta Model 1920 automatic. In the third story she carries a .25 caliber Model 1908, which replaced her Model 1930 (?). In the third story she also carries an air piston that fires tranquilizer pellets – her sting. By the 4^th story we learn that she had trained in jiu-jitsu, karate, and learned the pressure points to render someone unconscious. Being a Texas farm girl she could lift her own weight, and hold her breath for nearly three minutes. Her outfit now contains not just folds for her equipment, but panel pockets; she also carries a police slapjack to knock crooks out.

Walter Evanston is the Angel Club’s owner, and the Velvet Wasp’s assistant and lover. The wall by his bedroom door contains a hidden recess; he tapped a button beside a medieval portrait and part of the wall parted, revealing an opening six feet across. The secret panel contained pistols, revolvers, sabers, epees, a couple flintlocks, and several smaller hand weapons.

Police officers Captain Sheridan and Sergeant Miller are really only present in the first story, and they are revealed to be under the pay of the Outlanders.

Hercules Hathaway is mentioned in most of the stories, but never makes an appearance. He is the local hero that usually protects Olympus City. Maybe he will appear in a future story.

There are four stories in this first volume, and they take place between 1927 and 1934: O Death, Where Is Thy Sting; Stinging Nettle Tea; The Sting of The Saboteur; The Sting of The Lash.

“The Velvet Wasp” (Pro Se Press) 2018