Here we have another of those self-referential covers: an issue of ADVENTURE with a guy sitting in front of a fireplace reading . . . an issue of ADVENTURE. The art, which I think is pretty good, is by an artist I've never heard of: Hibberd V.B. Kline (the V.B. stands for Van Buren). Is the premise a little cute? Yeah, but I think it works okay here. Inside the issue, there's no question about the authors: W.C. Tuttle, Gordon Young, Talbot Mundy, Gordon MacCreagh, J. Allan Dunn, and S.B.H. Hurst. That's a really strong bunch of writers.
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One of my favorites also and a reminder of how the world has changed. Back a hundred years ago when it got dark and the work day was over, people often read books and magazines because there was not much else to do. Those days are over and most people do not read much.
I only recently discovered MacCreagh. A good writer who led a fascinating life. To me, his Kingi Bwana is sort of an African El Borak in several ways. I found MacCreagh by way of Glashan's excellent site:
http://freeread.com.au/@rglibrary/GordonMacCreagh/GordonMacCreagh.html
I have all those Kingi Bwana stories and just need to get around to reading them.
I first read Gordon MacCreagh in the Sunday magazine supplements of the 1910s era. His jungle adventure stories enthralled me completely. They were quite realistic, even down to the dialogue.
I've read a bunch of Adventure pulps and multiple stories by all of these authors except MacCreagh, who I don't recall well. Is there a definitive short story or novel by him in Adventure or elsewhere?
And yeah...that cover looks like the most enjoyable situation in the world...and I don't even smoke.
Gordon MacCreagh wrote a lot for ADVENTURE and I have several favorites. "The Crawling Script" is a 66 page short novel in the September 30, 1923 issue and when I read it many years ago I gave it my highest rating. My notes say:
"Very well done and extremely enjoyable. The humorous adventures of three mismatched men hunting for treasure and the ironic ending shows the good influence of Talbot Mundy. This was adventure fiction at its best, exactly the type I like to read. Was off sick from work and glad of it after reading this!"
I picked this issue as one of the best in the BLOOD n THUNDER article on ADVENTURE. I believe I mentioned it at the special panel on ADVENTURE'S 100th birthday back in 2010 at the Windy City Pulp convention.
I used to smoke a pipe many years ago, and this cover is almost enough to make me take it up again.
The guy really should have a faithful dog with him, though, to make the scene complete.
I would say where is the beautiful girl but women were banned from the covers of ADVENTURE during the twenties, thirties, and forties. They did not return until the magazine suffered the indignity of becoming a sort of girly title with bare breasted ladies posing for the camera in the risque fifties and sixties.
walker,
thanks for the recommendation. i'll check it out.
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