THE
MARK OF CAIN
In a recent
used bookstore foray, I picked up a copy of War
Dogs #4 Body Count, an entry in a 1984 men’s adventure paperback original
series set during the Vietnam war. Having been a collector of men’s adventure
genre novels since my late teens, I was surprised I was unfamiliar
with both the series and the author, Nik Uhernik.
Back home some quick Internet research revealed Uhernik as a pseudonym for prolific men’s adventure writer Nicholas Cain. His first, and best remembered, series was the cult favorite Saigon Commandos, written as Jonathan Cain in the mid-80. The series ran for 12 titles all published by Zebra Books. One critic referred to the Saigon Commandos series as the Hill Street Blues of Vietnam.
*Saigon Commandos is a derogatory term invented by infantrymen during the Vietnam War as a reference to any soldier not on the front lines. However, the military policemen in Saigon, who found themselves up against snipers, rowdy sappers, and other hostile local criminals across the Saigon underworld, wore the title as a badge of honor—proud to be lawmen patrolling what they considered the toughest beat in the world.*

*One of Cain’s Saigon Commando characters is Private Nick Uhernik, the son of a diplomat who was born and raised in Saigon, and is very possibly the genesis for Cain’s Nik Uhernik pseudonym.*


Interestingly (possibly only from the perspective of a Men’s Adventure genre groupie) Cain also wrote the final installment of the Vietnam Ground Zero series using the pseudonym Robert Baxter. Vietnam Ground Zero was a long running series written by at least two other authors (Robert Charles Cornett and Kevin Randle) under the house name Eric Helm. Oddly, this last series entry written by Cain (as Baxter) was never published as a separate book. Its only appearance was in Heroes Book 1, a strange hybrid omnibus. Each of the 3 books in the Heroes omnibus series contained two or three novels from Gold Eagle’s various men’s adventure series. All of the included novels were previously published, except for Cain/Baxter’s Vietnam Ground Zero entry, Zebra Cube.
*For my fellow fanatics, the Vietnam Ground Zero series consisted of 27 books (28 if you count Cain/Baxter’s final entry) published between 1986 and 1990 by Gold Eagle. Between 1988 and 1990, 5 Super Vietnam Ground Zero books (longer versions of the original series books akin to the Super Bolan entries in Gold Eagle’s Executioner series) were published. Eric Helm was also the house name used for Scorpion Squad, a 4 book, Vietnam set, men’s adventure series published by Pinnacle between 1984 and 1985 (prior to the first Vietnam Ground Zero entry in 1986).*
With so many of Cain’s books set in the Vietnam War, I was interested to find out more about his background. Checking with the ever reliable Google (sarcasm noted), there appeared to be conflicting information regarding Cain’s real first name—was it Jonathan or Nicholas—since he had used both at various times.
Several entries indicated the Saigon
Commandos Jonathan Cain was also the keyboardist for the classic rock band
Journey—responsible for co-composing and playing the piano on Don't Stop Believin' as well as writing Journey’s
hit ballad, Faithfully.
This did not seem right since no information on Journey’s Jonathan Cain listed any connection to the writing of at least 30 men’s adventure novels. Still, numerous links associated with Saigon Commandos author Jonathan Cain clicked through to information on Journey’s Jonathan Cain.
Even the legitimate, and usually reliable, Fantastic Fiction website’s bio entry for Saigon Commando author Jonathan Cain states: Jonathan Cain is a musician best known as the keyboardist and lyricist for the world-renowned band Journey. The listing even includes a photo of Journey’s Jonathan Cain...CLICK HERE
If it’s on the Internet, it must be true...Maybe not...
Futher checking quickly revealed Jonathan Cain as a pseudonym for Nicholas Cain—whose most likely connection to Journey was being barraged by their music on his car radio. The ever more valuable Paperback Warrior website gave a lukewarm review of Cain’s initial Little Saigon series entry, Abel’s War (a guy named Cain writing about a character named Able—let’s not go there), but does give a nod of acknowledgement to Cain stating: His volunteer service time in Vietnam (despite a high draft number) and as a Colorado state trooper is commendable...CLICK HERE
Cain apparently did his research for his Saigon Commandos series the hard way. In the latter years of the Vietnam War, he served as a US Army military policeman in Saigon. He later continued his Army career as an MP, which included tours of duty in Thailand and South Korea. He was honorably discharge in 1975 with the rank of sergeant. A civilian again, Cain returned to his hometown in Colorado. He then began a decade long law enforcement career. He started as a state trooper and later became a police officer in suburban Thornton, Colorado.
Ten years removed from the war, Cain wrote a non-fiction manuscript entitled Saigon Alley, which was based on his experiences in Vietnam. The manuscript was rejected by numerous publishers until it came to the attention of Zebra Books editor, Michael Seidman. Once an MP himself, Seidman offered Cain a four book contract if he would fictionalize the experiences in his manuscript and increase the sex and violence—which Zebra relied on as a selling point for their books. Cain agreed, turning Saigon Alley into the basis for his fictional Saigon Commandos novels.
*Zebra editor Michael Seidman was at Tor Books when he bought and purchased my first novel, Citadel Run, and contracted me for two more.*
Starting publication in 1983, the Saigon Commandos grew to a series of 12 books and became a cult classic. More than a standard Vietnam action series, Cain’s first-hand knowledge helped him capture the essence of being in Saigon during the height of the war.
*At the end of Saigon Commandos #4: Cherry Boy Body Bag, Cain adds an unusual epilogue. His original contract from Zebra was for four books, so my guess is Cain had not received a contract for further books by the time he finished book four. Thinking this would be the last book in the series (it actually ran for eight more titles), Cain gave some closure to the books with an epilogue covering what would happen to the main characters in the future. As Cain did himself, the Saigon Commando MPs hired on with various law enforcement agencies back in the real world. One would commit suicide, another would be killed in the line of duty, and one would join the anti-Communist resistance in Cambodia. The various Vietnamese policemen (who were secondary characters in the books) would disappear into reeducation camps after the Communist victory. The leader of the Saigon Commandos, Ex-Green Beret Mark Stryker, however, remained in Saigon continuing to resist the Communist takeover of the city he loved.*
Being an MP in a city like Saigon demands far more guys and skills than those to than guard installations or direct traffic. Cain crafts an exotic city full of beautiful women and nonstop excitement as his collected stories cover all aspects of an MPs duties. In doing so, he skillfully brings to life a vibrant city inhabited with colorful and dangerous characters.
The final
three books in the series, known as The
Tet Trilogy, were the culmination of everything Cain had experienced as an
MP and learned as a writer. The trilogy is among the best writing ever—fiction or non-fiction—about the
Vietnam War.
*In his Tet trilogy, Cain uses actual transcripts of MP jeep-to-jeep radio transmissions, taken from official logs, records and archives, and incorporates them into the punchy dialogue.*
*In his Tet trilogy, Cain uses actual transcripts of MP jeep-to-jeep radio transmissions, taken from official logs, records and archives, and incorporates them into the punchy dialogue.*
In an
unlikely turn of events for any men’s adventure series, Saigon Commandos #9: Mad Minute, was not only bought by Hollywood
shlockmeister Roger Corman's Concorde Studios, but actually made into the 1988 straight
to video film, Saigon Commandos. It
was released as a feature film in foreign theaters as American Kommandos...CLICK HERE
Written by Thomas
McKelvey Cleaver and directed by Clark Henderson The movie was filmed in the
Phillipenes on a typically miserly Corman budget. Despite this, Saigon Commandos is a decent B-action
movie for those of us who get a kick out of such low-budget fare. The film
starred Richard Young, who would become far better known for his role in the
opening sequence of Indiana Jones and the
Last Crusade a year later.
*Saigon Commandos is a surprisingly decent film, focusing not on
the battles in the Vietnamese jungles, but on the corruption, heroin infested
streets, hidden snipers, and hollow-point killing murders in Saigon. I was
hooked from the opening scene of a Vietnamese band singing House of the Rising
Sun in a strip club. I had low expectations for this film. However, it rose above
those expectations—however slightly—and turned out to be entertaining. If you
can manage to track down a copy, I recommend it for action B-movie fans.*
Cain’s writing career spanned over thirty book in various men’s adventure and military adventure paperback original series. While successful by many standards, and despite Hollywood interest leading to a produced feature film, Cain had slowly become a victim of the deadly curse of the mid-list writer—the main symptoms being the inability to breakout of the genre markets, small advances, and rarely, if ever, a royalty check large enough for a dirty weekend away.
In 1990, Cain
moved on to another act in his career...literally moving on...to Los Angeles,
where he became a private investigator. However, he did not give up his
keyboard completely, writing two investigative manuals, Trick Questions (And Other Trade Secrets of an L.A. County P.I.)
and So You Wanna Be A Private Eye, as
supplements to the courses on investigation he taught at a local continuing
education facility.
The Internet
turns up little information concerning Cain’s personal life, and what can be
found is most often repetitive. However, I did uncovered a strange book
entitled Whatnots! Thirty Fascinating
People Share Their Extraordinary Collections by Eileen Birin. In it, Cain has
his own chapter talking about his book collecting habits and his love for Doc
Savage. Along with Doc Savage, Cain claims Arthur Conan Doyle, Jules Verne, and
Joseph Wambaugh as major influences on his writing. He collects all of their
books among many others.
Saigon Commandos (1983)
Code Zero Shots Fired (1984)
Dinky Dau Death (1984)
Cherry Boy Body Bag (1984)
Boonie-Rat Body Burning (1984)
Di Di Mau Or Die (1984)
Sac Mau, Victor Charlie (1985)
You Die, Du Ma! (1985)
Mad Minute (1985)
Torturers of Tet (1986)
Hollowpoint Hell (1986)
Suicide Squad (1986)
WAR DOGS
War Dogs (1984)
M-16 Jury (1985)
Busting Caps (1985)
Body Count (1986)
Blood Trails (1986)
Tunnel Warriors (1987)
Jungle Sweep (1987)
Red River (1987)
Renegade Mias (1987)
Suicide Mission (1987)
Kill Zone (1987)
Death Brigade (1988)
Paul – Thanks for your work preparing this profile. The SAIGON COMMANDOS books are now on my list to find.
ReplyDeleteGreat overview! I read them as a teenager in the 80s. I became a police officer too. More an Adam-12 effect. I just bought again book 1 Saigon Commandos and have book 2 on order will try for all 12.
ReplyDelete