Never trust a guy in a gas mask, that's my motto. This blonde certainly shouldn't have. I don't know the artist on this cover, but I like it. Arthur J. Burks is probably the biggest name in this issue, followed by T.W. Ford, Seven Anderton, and Thomas Thursday. Columbia house-name Mat Rand is also on hand, along with a bunch of writers I've never heard of, such as Betty Brooks and D.A. Kyle. I'm not sure if anybody in this issue of FAMOUS DETECTIVE STORIES deserves the FAMOUS label, but that doesn't mean the stories aren't good. (Burks, Ford, and Thursday still have work in print.)
8 comments:
Perhaps D.A. Kyle is Futurian and noted fan David A. Kyle? He later authored some attractive science fiction histories/picture books.
Has to be. I know he wrote some fiction for the pulps. I didn’t think about that.
The blonde youno woman looks a lot like the one on the August 1950 cover. I wonder if the artists used models for the covers?
I’m pretty sure most of them did use models.
I have long had a fondness for the Robert Lowndes edited crime fiction pulps Famous Detective and Smashing Detective--although I don't think I have that issue. I also fell hard for Seven Anderton's series featuring Edna Pender "Who had the most unfortunate face that ever grew on a woman, but her infrequent smile brought about a major miracle with the job lot of mismatched features. It was like an optical illusion, producing something that was almost--or perhaps more than--beauty." This quote is from Famous Detective for Feb 1952 in the Anderton story "Hot Ice House Warming" I have long thought that his series was worthy of reprinting.
Anderton I researched and I need to relocate that infp. He may have served some time in jail, as I recall. And he may have deserted from the Army as I remember. Seven Anderton was not his birth name but it is the name on his tombstone (which I did locate). If I can find that file I will post more.
Richard Moore
More on Seven Anderto
From the Nebraska archives:
Albert "Seven" Anderton was born March 15, 1893, in Dawson County, Nebraska. He was a prolific author of short stories, most notably mysteries, westerns, and stories set in the Sand Hills. Many of his works were published in The Omaha World-Herald Magazine. He spent much of his career writing for newspapers in Omaha, Denver, and Chicago. In 1947, he served a brief term in prison for writing a bad check. Afterwards, many of his stories and articles featured prison life as a theme. The writer died February 12, 1958, while on vacation in Brownsville, Texas.
The first pulp story I have seen by Seven Anderton was in the Fall-Winter 1932 issue of Amazing Stories Quarterly. It's a long novelette "The King and the Pawn." I have it but have yet to give it a read.
Thanks for this information, Richard. I'd like to see some of Seven Anderton's work reprinted, too.
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