Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Crack Detective Stories, November 1945

This issue of CRACK DETECTIVE STORIES has a nice cover by Irene Endris, one of several female pulp cover artists I know of. Inside are stories by T.W. Ford (probably best remembered as a Western author although he wrote a little bit of everything in the pulps), Talmage Powell, Emil Petaja (best known as a science fiction author), Rex Whitechurch, Marcus Lyons (who was really James Blish, definitely well-known as a science fiction author), and house-names Cliff Campbell and Grant Lane. As usual with a pulp produced on a very small budget by editor Robert W. Lowndes, this is probably better than it has any right to be. I haven't read it, but if you want to check it out, the whole issue can be found here.  

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Thrilling Wonder Stories, June 1951

Okay, is that a space helmet or a bowling ball this space babe is holding? If it's a bowling ball, I want to read the story this Earle Bergey cover is illustrating. Of course, it's probably just a space helmet. Either way, there are some fine writers in the pages behind this cover: Jack Vance, James Blish, Charles L. Harness, Carter Sprague (actually my old mentor, Sam Merwin Jr.), Roger Dee, H.B. Fyfe, and somebody I don't normally associate with science fiction, even though he wrote a respectable amount of it, William Campbell Gault. If you want to read this issue, you can find a PDF of it on this page.

UPDATE: As Rick Robinson points out in the comments, it's actually Earth the lady is holding. I should have noticed that. I just got distracted by the bowling ball idea. (I know there have been science fiction stories about other sports, such as baseball, but I wonder if there's ever been one about bowling . . .)

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Thrilling Wonder Stories, December 1949

Ah, the wonderful cover art of Earle Bergey! I would have grabbed this issue of THRILLING WONDER STORIES off the newsstand if I'd been browsing the new pulps in 1949. And the line-up of authors inside certainly doesn't hurt: Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, James Blish, Murray Leinster, Cleve Cartmill, L. Sprague de Camp, Raymond F. Jones, and William Morrison. You can download a PDF of this issue here.

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Crack Detective Stories, May 1946

I think it's the expression on the blonde's face and the look in her eyes that really make this cover work. James Blish (writing as Marcus Lyons) and Tom Thursday are the only authors in this issue of CRACK DETECTIVE STORIES whose names ring a bell, although of course Cliff Campbell is a house-name and could be anybody. But other than that we have Frances Beck and Ken Lewis, neither remembered much today. I like the skeleton hands, and in that situation, I think I'd feel just about as dubious as the blonde looks.

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Super Science Stories, May 1940

This is the second issue of Popular Publications' science fiction pulp, edited by Frederik Pohl. The cover is by an artist I'm not familiar with, Gabriel Mayorga. It seems a little too busy to me, but it's eye-catching, no doubt about that. And the line-up of authors inside is an all-star one: Robert A. Heinlein (writing as Lyle Monroe), Manly Wade Wellman (writing as Gabriel Barclay), James Blish, Raymond Z. Gallun, L. Sprague de Camp, Donald A. Wollheim, Ray Cummings, P. Schuyler Miller, Cyril Kornbluth (writing as S.D. Gottesman), and Willy Ley. Granted, some, if not all, of those stories were probably rejects from ASTOUNDING, but still, that's a pretty impressive group. 

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Thrilling Wonder Stories, April 1949

This is an odd issue of THRILLING WONDER STORIES in that the cover art isn't attributed to Earle Bergey. I don't know who painted it, but it's certainly an appealing, eye-catching cover. The list of authors with stories inside is pretty eye-catching, too: Ray Bradbury, Edmond Hamilton, Leigh Brackett, Murray Leinster, James Blish, Noel Loomis, Margaret St. Clair, and Rog Phillips. And it was edited by my old mentor Sam Merwin Jr. Some people today may not think so, but to me that was a great era in science fiction.