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KARA VANIA

vania_kara_nv_scaradv_nov37 vania_kara_nv_scaradv_jul38 vania_kara_nv_scaradv_feb38
 
Full Name: Kara Vania
Nationality: Unknown
Organization: None
Occupation Freelance Agent

Creator: Franz Le Baron
Time Span: 1937 - 1938

ABOUT THE SERIES

Kara Vania is a freelance agent.

There are only three recorded adventures known about this interesting spy-for-hire but indications are that, while her other adventures may have not gotten pen put to them, they were many and varied for her name is said to be known to the various intelligence agencies around the world.

In Robert Sampson's impressive Deadly Excitements: Shadows & Phantoms, a book that "celebrates yesterday's pulp magazine and their heroes and heroines", she is listed as a woman of many sobriquets such as the Lady of Doom, the Tiger Woman, and the World's Most Glamorous Spy".

This red-haired beauty is said by one anonymous source from Geocities to be a "freelance espionage agent and adventuress, who works on a global level for whoever will hire her". I believe this source was citing Sampson's work as well for both mention Vania's mission to retrieve stolen papers while evading Soviet agents in an escapade that takes her from London, where she finds herself thrown into the Old Bailey, all the way to Shanghai. Sampson states that she "loses her clothing twice more, is sold as a slave to an opium house, escapes from there dressed as a Russian officer". She finally succeeds in her mission but "loses all her clothing and arrives as naked as only a sensuous spy can get who has ripped it all off to dazzle the enemy's mind".

NOVELLAS AND SHORT STORIES

Number of Stories:3
First Appearance:1937
Last Appearance:1938

     The three known adventures of Kara Vania were all published in the wonderfully salacious Scarlet Adventuress magazine. The dates of the publications is taken from www.philsp.com, the incredible source of magazine content recommended to all literary historians and fans.

     The book cited above by Robert Sampson lists the third of the stories as being in that magazine but coming out two years before. I have no idea who is correct; the available scan of the cover clearly shows the title of the story and month (July) but the year is not visible.


1 Lady of Doom Lady of Doom
Written by Franz Le Baron
Copyright: 1937

Published in Scarlet Adventuress, November 1937.
[plot unknown]

2 Siren of Flame Siren of Flame
Written by Franz Le Baron
Copyright: 1938

Published in Scarlet Adventuress, February 1938.
[plot unknown]

3 Lady of Destiny Lady of Destiny
Written by Franz Le Baron
Copyright: 1938

Published in Scarlet Adventuress, July 1938.
[plot unknown]

MY COMMENTS

I have found no available copies of the three magazines holding these stories, let alone any that I could afford. Therefore, I know only what I have stated above. Hope to know more some day but not expecting to.

GRADE

My Grade: -

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