Saturday, June 25, 2011

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Thrilling Western, June 1935

This pulp has a typical Thrilling Group Western cover, but the issue is interesting to me because it contains the original appearance of A. Leslie Scott's novel THE ARIZONA RANGER, which later was reprinted in paperback as one of the early Pyramid Books, an edition I happen to have read and owned at one time.  The fact that the hero is one Rance Hatfield always makes me think there's a connection between this novel and Jim Hatfield, the hero of the pulp TEXAS RANGERS, whose adventures Scott began chronicling a year or so later.  Since the stories in TEXAS RANGERS take place in the 1870s and '80s, and the Arizona Rangers were active in the early 20th Century, I've always wondered if maybe Rance Hatfield was Jim Hatfield's son, or at least his younger brother or nephew.  I suspect that Scott didn't have anything of the sort in mind; he just liked the name Hatfield and used it again.  But I like to speculate about such things anyway.  Among the other authors in this issue are Jay J. Kalez, who wrote one of the early Masked Rider novels, the ubiquitous Larry A. Harris, and "Sam Brant", a Thrilling Group house name that has been rumored to have some fairly famous authors behind it.

2 comments:

Ron Scheer said...

Great cover. This cowboy's hat looks like it's sweating. Thanks, James.

Walker Martin said...

I like the paperback cover even more. Not only is the hero trying to climb up the rope but he has a girl hanging onto his neck. Meanwhile a gigantic buzzard or vulture comes into the picture. The only thing missing is the villain firing bullets. Plus the horse...