I'll bet that cover caught a few eyes on the newsstands back in 1942, and with authors inside like Walt Coburn, Rollin Brown, Jay J. Kalez, and Bart Cassidy (quite possibly Harry Olmsted, but hard to say for sure because Bart Cassidy was a house name), I'll also bet this issue of LARIAT STORY MAGAZINE was well worth reading.
7 comments:
Good old Lariat, the Planet Stories of western pulps.
That’s a fine cover, but my favorite remains one that you showcased several years ago…
http://jamesreasoner.blogspot.com/2012/05/saturday-morning-western-pulp-lariat.html
Actually, picking a favorite cover is almost impossible with this magazine, but I’d say that picking a favorite story title from those that adorned the cover of Lariat was utterly impossible.
Gun-Mistress of the Smokepole Pack! Hymn of the Hogleg Hellion! Last Ride of the Kill Gun Angel!
Nope. You can’t pick just one.
John Hocking
The titles are definitely part of the charm. "Gun Devils of the Rio Grande" was inspired by those great old pulp titles, as was "Gun-Brand of the Stagecoach Queen", a story of mine that's written but hasn't seen print yet.
I've always been curious about Lariat, though I don't know where to begin. Do any of its readers have favorite issues? And what sets it most apart from Western Story Magazine, Star Western, and Dime Western besides some obviously appealing story titles?
Fiction House was not on the same level as Street & Smith and Popular Publications so LARIAT was not one of the top western pulp titles. Still interesting but the stories were not on the level as those published in WESTERN STORY, STAR and DIME WESTERN. There were some exceptions such as Dan Cushman but the lower word rates meant that most writers gave Street & Smith and Popular first look. The covers were great however!
Walker,
Thanks for the info. Dan Cushman had me pretty interested here, but your comments lowered my interest in the pulp for sure...which is fine, considering I buy 3 pulps for every 1 I read, and I hope to read everything that I buy.
Do you have any thoughts on the Joel Townsley Rogers story / overall September 10, 1924 issue of Adventure? I'm trying to decide between reading that issue next or the issue with the first Jimgrim story or an Argosy I picked up (July 7, 1934 that has a long Jimmie Cordie story that looks really good and some Theodore Roscoe and J Allan Dunn as well).
The first Jimgrim story was of great interest to me many years ago since it led to me reading the entire series. But I just looked at my copy of the September 10, 1924 ADVENTURE and it certainly looks like an excellent issue. I've only read two stories in it but both are excellent: IROQUOIS, IROQUOIS! by Hugh Pendexder and "The Victor" by Dale Collins which Hoffman reprinted in ADVENTURES BEST STORIES.
Joel Townsley Rogers was one of the better writers and the issue also has novelettes that look outstanding: Surdez and Buckley. I see The Campfire has letters from Rogers and S. Omar Barker. I'd recommend reading the Jimgrim story by Mundy and then diving into this issue.
Walker,
Thanks! I will put that Sep 10 1924 at the top of the pulp pile.
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