Nelson S Bond wrote what I would describe as, “space opera western” short stories for a pulp fiction publication called Planet Stories in the 1940s. I usually enjoy his descriptions, but none have been as fun as how he described “Salvation” Smith.

The old man’s lips etched a straight line, reminding Chip that Salvation Smith was not one of those milk-and-water missionaries who espoused the principle of “turning the other cheek” to evildoers. Salvation was not the ordained emissary of any church. A devoutly religious man with the heart of an adventurer, he had taken upon himself the mission of carrying to outland tribes the story of the God he worshipped.

That his God was the fierce Yahveh of the Old Testament, a God of anger and retribution, was made evident by the methods Salvation sometimes employed in winning his converts. For not only was Salvation acknowledged the most pious man in space; he was also conceded to be the best hand with a gun!

Earth’s softhanded ecclesiastics did not altogether approve of their wayward missionary’s reputation.

Out of the works I have read so far, he has shown up in “Shadrach” and “The Lorelei Death”