Jul 13, 2020
Crime novelist Gary Phillips has given us a new novel that features a fictionalized version of the real life adventurer Matthew Henson who was a black arctic explorer who is believed to have been the first man to make it to the North Pole even before Commodore Peary who was on the same expedition. Henson was a larger-than-life character in Harlem in the 1920s and 1930s. This novel (Matthew Henson and the Ice Temple of Harlem) has a strong pulpy feel and includes many 'Easter eggs' including cameos by Jimmy Dale (aka the gray Seal) and some actual persons rom that era such as Bessie Coleman, Harlem numbers racket Queen Stephanie St. Clair, scientist Nikola Tesla, and notorious mobster Dutch Schultz. The story is about an attempt by Dutch Schultz to take over the numbers racket in Harlem by the use of a secret device related to a discovery Henson had made in Greenland in 1909. This is a fun romp full of action and giving you a flavor of what it was like in Harlem back in the late 1020s.
This book will make a fun summer read! It is currently available on Amazon both in paperback and Kindle formats. Don't miss it!
Gary also has several other novels and anthologies that will be of interest.
Matthew Henson and the Ice Temple of Harlem:
The Obama Inheritance (An Anthology of 15 wild conspiracy theories concerning the former president):
The Faking of the President: 19 Stories of White House Noir
DC Comic Novel - The Killing Joke (Prose novel)
Low Down Dirty, Volume 2:
Black Pulp:
Black Pulp II
Bass Reeves Frontier Marshall, Volume 1:
Gary Phillips Author Page:
https://www.amazon.com/Gary-Phillips/e/B001HOFM56/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1