A dramatic cover by Walter Baumhofer graces this issue of STAR WESTERN, my favorite Western pulp published by Popular Publications. A look at the authors inside will tell you why I feel that way: T.T. Flynn, Ray Nafziger, Luke Short, W. Ryerson Johnson, Robert E. Mahaffey (twice, with a short story and a novelette), William F. Bragg, and Foster-Harris. I also like STAR WESTERN because it ran more novellas and novelettes than short stories. I like short stories just fine, but I think the novella is just about the perfect length for all types of genre fiction.
This is an issue of ARGOSY that I've read (well, probably not the serial installments), but it was so many years ago I don't remember anything about it except that the Nick Fisher/Eddie Savoy story by Donald Barr Chidsey was excellent. Other authors with stand-alone stories are Tom Curry, William Merriam Rouse, Foster-Harris, and William Edward Hayes. The serials are by Frederick Faust writing as George Challis ("The Golden Knight", a novel that as far as I know hasn't been reprinted), Ralph R. Perry, and Patrick Lee. The cover is by John A. Coughlin.
Here's another excellent cover by Arthur Mitchell, this time on an issue of LARIAT STORY MAGAZINE. This pulp always had good writers, and this issue is no exception: Walt Coburn, Harry F. Olmsted, Art Lawson, C.K. Shaw, Foster-Harris, and Samuel Taylor all have stories in this one. Taylor is probably better remembered for his mysteries than his Westerns, but he wrote a lot in both genres.
Artist Tom Lovell may have featured this iconic trio on more Western pulp covers than anyone else, and here they are, rushing into battle: the Stalwart Cowboy, the Old Geezer, and the Angry, Gun-Toting Redhead. Actually, the redhead's not toting a gun on this cover, but you just know she either recently was or will be very soon. This issue of ACE-HIGH MAGAZINE (also known as ACE-HIGH WESTERN MAGAZINE at various points in its existence) features the usual stellar lineup of authors: Walt Coburn, Harry F. Olmsted, Gunnison Steele, Art Lawson, John G. Pearsol, Foster-Harris, and Robert E. Mahaffey.
An excellent, action-packed cover on this issue of BIG-BOOK WESTERN MAGAZINE. I don't know who the artist was, but he did a good job. Inside are stories by William Colt MacDonald, Ed Earl Repp, James P. Olsen, Art Lawson, Foster-Harris, and J.E. Grinstead, all top-notch pulpsters. Hard to beat a Popular Publications Western pulp.
