Saturday Morning Western Pulp: .44 Western Magazine, February 1941

This fine cover by Albin Henning is another prime example of how you couldn't sit down to enjoy a game of poker in the Old West without a gunfight breaking out. The hombre swinging in on a rope with his gun blazing is a nice twist, though. Some good authors are on hand in this issue of .44 WESTERN MAGAZINE: Stone Cody (Thomas E. Mount), John G. Pearsol, Eli Colter, J.E. Grinstead, Ralph Berard (Victor H. White), and the lesser known Archie Giddings and Jay A. Constant, whose story in this issue is his only credit in the Fictionmags Index.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Ace-High Western Stories, January 1949

I don't own this pulp, but like most of the Western pulps from Popular Publications, this issue of ACE-HIGH WESTERN STORIES has a good bunch of authors inside and an eye-catching cover. My hunch is that Robert Stanley painted it, but I'm not sure about that. Walt Coburn leads things off, as he so often does, and also on hand are Roe Richmond, Tom Roan, William R. Cox, Eli Colter, James Shaffer, Harold F. Cruickshank, Spencer Frost (whose name isn't familiar to me), and Richard L. Nelson, who's interesting because that's a pseudonym of William L. Hamling, much more famous as an author and editor and the publisher of the science fiction digests IMAGINATION and IMAGINATIVE TALES, as well the founder of the soft-core empire that included Nightstand Books, Midnight Reader, etc., books written by Robert Silverberg, Lawrence Block, Donald E. Westlake, Evan Hunter, Ben Haas, Harry Whittington, and many other legendary authors under assorted pseudonyms and house-names.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Lariat Story Magazine, May 1927

Now that's an eye-catching cover by H.C. Murphy Jr.! LARIAT STORY MAGAZINE's claim of "Real Cowboy Stories by Real Cowboys" may be a bit of an exaggeration. The real name of Eli Colter, who has a story in this issue, was May Eliza Frost, so she's not a boy at all. Maybe she was a cowgirl, I don't know about that. Frederick Nebel has a story in this one, too, and I don't recall reading that he ever worked as a cowboy, but it's possible and if he did, I hope one of you will feel free to correct me. Walt Coburn, of course, was indeed the Genuine Article. The other authors in this issue are Albert William Stone and John Byrne (apparently not the editor of the same name). I have no idea if either of them ever cowboyed. Despite all that, I'm sure this is an excellent issue, and there are plenty of examples of non-cowboy authors who wrote great Westerns. It's a pretty good bit of marketing, though. 

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Lariat Story Magazine, March 1943

You could always count on LARIAT STORY covers for an eye-catching mix of powder-burning action, stalwart heroes, and beautiful gals. This issue is no exception. I don't know who did the art, but I like it. Inside this issue are stories by some fine writers, as well: Walt Coburn, Norbert Davis, W.F. Bragg, Eli Colter, J.E. Grinstead, and house-name Bart Cassiday, who was sometimes Harry F. Olmsted and might be here, I don't know. But I know LARIAT STORY covers usually make me want to write a story to fit the scenes on them. I'll bet I could work this into a book somewhere . . .

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: New Western, January 1946

"We gotta get this shipment through tuh the coyote, Tex!"

Okay, this is one of my favorite Western pulp covers so far. Frantic powder-burning action, injury to a hat, reins in the teeth, and great detail (that's a keg of Gut Buster Whiskey XXX under the canvas). Sam Cherry, working for Popular Publications instead of the Thrilling Group for a chance, really outdid himself on this one. Inside are stories by Harry F. Olmsted, Giff Cheshire, Joseph Chadwick, Eli Colter, and Miles Overholt. Pretty good lineup to go with that great cover.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Big-Book Western Magazine, August 1949

I really like this cover: the lighting, the colors, and of course, it's an Injury to a Hat cover, as well. Harry Olmsted, Eli Colter, Robert Trimnell, and Ray Townsend are the only names I recognize among the authors. The other stories are by Wallace Umphrey (the lead story, "Brand Him Marshal Murder!", a title I really like, too), John C. Ropke, and Mel Holt. Oh, and the house-name Dave Sands. I'll bet it's a good issue.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Western Story, August 21, 1943

A gunfight on top of a water tank? Sounds good to me. I'm surprised I've never written a scene like that. This looks like a good issue of WESTERN STORY, with stories by Ray Nafziger, Wayne D. Overholser, William Colt MacDonald, Eli Colter, S. Omar Barker, and George Cory Franklin.

I should mention, as I try to from time to time, that most of the scans I use in these weekend pulp posts come from the Fictionmags Index, and I want to express my appreciation for everyone involved in that invaluable site. When I've scanned the cover of a pulp I own, I always point that out and usually review the stories as well. And occasionally I use a scan from some other source, such as friends who send them to me. I just want to say thanks to everyone who makes this series possible, including those of you who read these posts.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Popular Western, March 1937

This is a pretty typical Western pulp cover from the Thirties. Lots of poker tables were overturned on pulp covers in those days. I've read very little, if anything, by two of the featured authors, Eli Colter and Forbes Parkhill. Eli Colter was actually a woman, Elizabeth Colter, who began writing action-packed stories for the Western pulps in 1925, when she was still a teenager, and kept it up until the early Fifties. Forbes Parkhill had a similar career, writing for a variety of pulps from the early Twenties to the late Forties. Tom Gunn, also featured on the cover, may have been a house-name, but the long series of stories published under that name about Sheriff Blue Steele of the town of Painted Post are generally considered to be the work of Syl McDowell, another prolific pulpster with a career ranging from the Twenties to the Fifties. I have one of the Blue Steele novels reprinted in paperback by Pocket Books but haven't read it yet. McDowell, under his own name, contributed another long series of stories to THRILLING WESTERN about a pair of incompetent cowboys called Swap and Whopper. The Swap and Whopper stories are comedic yarns and always struck me as an attempt to transplant Abbott and Costello to the Old West. I'll be honest with you: I don't like Swap and Whopper and after failing to finish many of the stories featuring them, I finally just stopped trying to get through them whenever I was reading an issue of THRILLING WESTERN. I've read some of McDowell's other stories that I thought were pretty good, though, so I still have hope for Sheriff Blue Steele.