THE MAGIC CARPET MAGAZINE and its predecessor, ORIENTAL STORIES, didn't last very long--15 issues total--but they sure published some great stuff while they were around. The July 1933 issue of THE MAGIC CARPET MAGAZINE features a cover by J. Allen St. John and stories by H. Bedford-Jones, Robert E. Howard, E. Hoffmann Price, Geoffrey Vace (who was actually Hugh Cave's brother Geoffrey . . . or sometimes Hugh Cave . . . or sometimes both of them--I don't know who actually wrote this particular story), Clark Ashton Smith, and Warren Hastings Miller. What a fantastic bunch of authors! I've read the Bedford-Jones story in a Black Dog Books chapbook reprint, as well as the REH story, but none of the others. I'll bet they're all good, though.
6 comments:
I see Seabury Quinn on there too. I wonder what story it is. Thus far ive only read some of his Jules de Grandin stories. I love them.
Can't believe I forgot to mention Seabury Quinn, a great pulpster. I've read eight or ten of the de Grandin stories and enjoyed all of them. His story in this issue is part of his Carlos de la Muerte series . . . a series about which I know absolutely nothing, but maybe somebody else can chime in and tell us about it.
I read this issue and although I like these authors in general, these are some of the weakest stories I've read by any of them. Very little fantasy, despite the title of the pulp---it's below average adventure with very contrived plotting and seem like filler tales for Argosy. The Howard story is an explosion of proper nouns with zero drama or characterization and a chore to read. Almost every issue of Weird Tales or Argosy I've read is far better than this pricey item.
Thanks, Craig. I figured you or Walker would be the only ones likely to have actually read this issue. I remember liking HB-J's "Pearls From Macao" when I read the reprint of it, but that's really all I recall about it.
My own theory is that editor Farnsworth Wright published the best work in WEIRD TALES. MAGIC CARPET and ORIENTAL STORIES probably got whatever was left over. Neither magazine lasted long which means they had even lower circulation than WT.
Contents, per the Fictionmags Index
The Magic Carpet Magazine [v3 #3, July 1933] (15¢, 128pp+, pulp, cover by J. Allen St. John)
259 · Pearls from Macao · H. Bedford-Jones · nv
288 · Chained · Rose Mary Burdick · pm
289 · The Bride of God [Carlos de la Muerte] · Seabury Quinn · nv
308 · Dancers · Hung Long Tom · pm
309 · The Lion of Tiberias · Robert E. Howard · nv
329 · The Jumping-Well [Chowkander King] · Geoffrey Vace · ss
342 · The Forgotten of Allah · E. Hoffmann Price · nv
363 · The Samaritan · Warren Hastings Miller · ss
373 · The Kiss of Zoraida · Clark Ashton Smith · ss
380 · The Mutations of Madam Butterfly · James W. Bennett · ar
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Girasol Collectibles did replica editions of all issues of ORIENTAL STORIES and MAGIC CARPET, and while they have been retiring some of their replicas over the last year and a half, I believe all of these are still available from them at $25 each. Wildside also reprinted some of this magazine, but I don't recall offhand if this issue was among them.
Denny Lien
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