I've read quite a few stories that first appeared in UNKNOWN, including the lead novel in this issue, Norvell Page's "But Without Horns", but I've never owned an issue myself. This cover is by Edd Cartier, and I like it a lot. Other authors in this issue are Frank Belknap Long, Nat Schachner, and a couple of writers I haven't heard of, Frederick Engelhardt and Dorothy Quick. Maybe I ought to try to pick up an issue of UNKNOWN one of these days.
7 comments:
James, Englehardt was a pseudonym for L. Ron Hubbard. Dorothy Quick was a fantasy author who had about two dozen stories published in WEIRD TALES and UNKNOWN; the story in this issue is from her "Patchwork Quilt" series.
UNKNOWN is one of my favorite magazines and I've had several sets during the past decades. Presently I have two sets, one bound set and one set of the loose issues. The bound set is John Campbell's personal set and has a signed inscription in the first volume to George Scithers. I believe UNKNOWN was the first pulp magazine that I started to collect. Gerry de la Ree sold me a set of the 39 issues for $50 in 1960. It's one of the great fiction magazines. By the way, I have a t-shirt with this cover by Edd Cartier.
Jerry,
I had no idea Englehardt was really Hubbard. I saw his Rene Lafayette pseudonym listed in some of the other UNKNOWN issues. Thanks for the info.
Walker,
Having John Campbell's own bound set is about as cool as it gets.
What a cover! Norvell Page?? I'd have been waiting at the newstand the day it came out.
Steve,
That novella is considered by some to be Page's best story. I don't know about that because I haven't read all of them, but it's very good, that's for sure. It's also in the collection RIVALS OF WEIRD TALES, which you may have.
I've got most of the run of UNKNOWN, but I don't have this one. It's one of my favorite pulps.
That's a great story by Norvell W. Page for certain. One of his very best for certain, and I've read a LOT of NWP, who is my favorite author. The ending/final sentence is terrific, and the paranoia the read induces is incredible.
Otherwise, not a good issue. The The Kraken by L Ron Hubbard is pretty enjoyable. Frank Belknap Long turns in another silly piece of junk---perhaps the single worst weird fiction writer to have made it to cult status from the pulp years---I've read 15+ stories by him, almost all of which are below average or terrible.
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