I like this Earle Bergey cover, but then, I always like Earle Bergey covers. I don't recall ever reading anything by Stanton Coblentz, who wrote the lead story in this issue, and I probably should. The other authors in this issue of THRILLING WONDER STORIES include Murray Leinster, Ross Rocklynne, Noel Loomis, John Russell Fearn writing as Polton Cross, and an author I've never heard of, Charles F. Ksanda, who sold only a handful of stories. I really like the science fiction from this era and need to read more of it.
5 comments:
Thrilling Wonder is way underrated. It published a lot of grwat stuff.
I saw Earle Bergey's grandson at Pulpfest. He's been doing research on Bergey for awhile. Hopefully we will eventually see a biography at some future date.
THRILLING WONDER and STARTLING STORIES were great SF pulps. I recommend both titles from about 1946 to the end in 1955. Sam Merwin took over as editor in 1945 and improved the quality of both magazines. They became more mature and adult especially when he banned Sgt. Saturn and his silly crew. In 1951 Sam Mines took over as editor and continued the improvements started by Sam Merwin.
Though many readers liked the sexy Bergey covers, there often were complaints about the girls. The three B's were mentioned as cover images: Bems, Bums, and Broads, standing for the bug eyed monsters, the male heroes, and the girls with bras and bare legs.
Merwin, more than once, explained in the letter columns that he had no say concerning the cover policy. It was decided by the publishers and they wanted a more risque type of cover to attract readers. Frankly, I love the Bergey covers and the Sf and paperback fields lost an excellent artist when Bergey died an early death at 49 or 50 years old.
I have this issue but probably twenty years plus since I read it. Coblentz, at one time, appealed enough to me that I sought out a couple of paperbacks.
Agree Thrilling Wonder always had good stuff.
I discovered that this issue is available in an e-book edition, so I bought it and will read it hopefully sooner rather than later. Of course, it's not the same as reading the actual pulp, but I've never minded reprints.
A lot of the old pulps are available for free at https://archive.org/ They're scans and aren't always complete due to some stories still being protected by copyright.
Post a Comment