Several years ago, Altus Press published a series called
TERROR TRIOS, each volume of which reprinted three Weird Menace novellas by
leading authors in that genre. SPAWN OF THE FLAMES focuses on Wayne Rogers, who
was notable for writing some of the most violent Weird Menace stories in the
pulps.
Rogers’ real name was Archibald Bittner. For many years he was primarily an editor, helming such iconic pulps as ARGOSY and SHORT STORIES. However, he also dabbled in writing using the Wayne Rogers name and eventually concentrated on that end of the business. During the Weird Menace boom, he was one of the most prolific and highly regarded pulpsters turning out those stories, as well as occasionally filling in on pulp hero series such as Operator #5 and The Spider.
“Spawn of the Flames”, the title story in this volume, was published originally
in the June 1936 issue of TERROR TALES. The protagonist is a young man who was
born in a crematorium and fears that he has grown up to have a split
personality, one of whom is a vicious pyromaniac and torture killer. He comes
home because his father is ill and on the verge of death, bringing his fiancee,
his best friend, and his best friend’s girlfriend with him. His lawyer and
stepmother are on hand, too. Some of them won’t survive, as “Spawn of the
Flames” becomes as violent and sadistic as any slasher movie or splatterpunk
novel. I’m not a fan of such graphic stuff in movies, but it doesn’t bother me
as much in prose. Rogers’ style is incredibly fast-moving, which also helps.
This is one of those stories where the plot only makes sense if you squint your
eyes and hold your mouth just right, but I enjoyed it anyway.
“The Devil’s Step-Daughters” (TERROR TALES, February 1936) is set in the
idyllic-seeming town of Malstead in New Hampshire, where the narrator, lawyer
Ted Walton, is engaged to the oldest of three beautiful sisters who are
believed to be descendants of a witch who lured young men to their deaths back
in the Seventeenth Century. When a wave of grisly murders strikes Malstead and
sinister black-robed figures begin prowling the streets, the placid façade of
the town is shattered forever. As a mystery (which most Weird Menace tales, at
their heart, really are), this one is pretty easy to figure out, and Ted Walton
is an even more ineffective protagonist than you usually find in yarns like
this. However, it does have Rogers’ breakneck pace and brutal action scenes
going for it, so while it’s not as enjoyable as “Spawn of the Flames”, it’s
still pretty entertaining.
This volume wraps up with “The Mummy Pack Prowls Again”, from the April 1937
issue of DIME MYSTERY MAGAZINE. This novella also takes place in a small New
England town, Waterville, which is plagued by the sudden outbreak of a
mysterious malady that turns its victims into living mummies by withering their
flesh until they’re just skin and bones. This affliction also drives them mad
and makes them seek human flesh. In other words . . . they’re zombies, in the
sense that the word is often used now. The narrator, Warren Craig, is the city
manager (protagonists in Weird Menace usually have mundane occupations like
that, instead of being cops, private eyes, etc., probably to make them more
identifiable for the readers). Compounding the horror is the fact that his
beautiful fiancee falls victim to the sinister illness. This one isn’t quite as
gruesome as the other two yarns, possibly because it was published in DIME
MYSTERY, the flagship of Popular Publications’ Weird Menace line, rather than
the generally more graphic TERROR TALES.
Having read these three stories, my first impression is that Wayne Rogers’ work in this genre is a little too violent for my taste, or maybe I just read them too close together. (I did space them out with other stuff in between but still read all three in the span of a week and a half.) That said, I’d read more by him because his action scenes are very good and he knows how to maintain the sort of breakneck pace that I like. I can see why he was a popular writer. For now, if you’re already a fan of Weird Menace stories I can certainly recommend SPAWN OF THE FLAMES. If you’ve never sampled the genre before, this might not be the best place to start.
Rogers’ real name was Archibald Bittner. For many years he was primarily an editor, helming such iconic pulps as ARGOSY and SHORT STORIES. However, he also dabbled in writing using the Wayne Rogers name and eventually concentrated on that end of the business. During the Weird Menace boom, he was one of the most prolific and highly regarded pulpsters turning out those stories, as well as occasionally filling in on pulp hero series such as Operator #5 and The Spider.
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| Art by John Newton Howitt |
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| Art by John Newton Howitt |
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| Art by Tom Lovell |
Having read these three stories, my first impression is that Wayne Rogers’ work in this genre is a little too violent for my taste, or maybe I just read them too close together. (I did space them out with other stuff in between but still read all three in the span of a week and a half.) That said, I’d read more by him because his action scenes are very good and he knows how to maintain the sort of breakneck pace that I like. I can see why he was a popular writer. For now, if you’re already a fan of Weird Menace stories I can certainly recommend SPAWN OF THE FLAMES. If you’ve never sampled the genre before, this might not be the best place to start.
