Saturday, June 18, 2011

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Blue-Ribbon Western, April 1949

A guy jumping from his horse onto a train . . . How many times have I seen that in Western B-movies, and here's the same scene on a Western pulp. The Columbia Publications pulps don't have a very high reputation, but some decent authors had stories in them. In this particular issue, most of the wordage is taken up by Allen K. Echols' lead novel. I've seen books by Echols around for years, but I don't recall ever reading any of them. Also in this issue is a story by Chuck Martin, whose work I have read and enjoyed, and the third and final story is by none other than Lester del Rey, whose name certainly doesn't spring to mind when you're thinking about Western pulpsters. But I'll bet it's an interesting yarn.

3 comments:

Walker Martin said...

Doc Lowndes edited this magazine, as well as other mystery and western titles, and he often managed to talk his SF friends into writing for the non-SF magazines.

You mention Lester del Rey and I notice ebay recently had an issue with James Blish and Arthur Leo Zagat, both SF writers. I've heard the pay rate per word was just about the lowest in the pulp jungle.

D.M. McGowan said...

Some great stories in these pulps and no they didn't get paid what they were worth. But isn't that the case with all but a very few artists of any type of work?
Now days there are no pulps so I post short stories on my blog ... and get paid less than nothing.
But I enjoy the writing. Hopefully some one will enjoy the reading.
Dave
www.dmmcgowan.blogspot.com

Walker Martin said...

For more about BLUE RIBBON WESTERN see http://lauriepowerswildwest.blogspot.com.