Saturday Morning Western Pulp: .44 Western Magazine, February 1948

I don't own this issue, so the information about it and the cover scan come from the invaluable Fictionmags Index. .44 WESTERN MAGAZINE, like all the other Popular Publications Western pulps, had good covers and good authors filling its pages. Robert Stanley did the excellent art on this cover (thanks to Robert R. Barrett for the artist ID), and I think it's the first one I've come across where a pocket watch gets shot, instead of some hombre's hat. Inside this issue are stories by William Heuman, Harry F. Olmsted, Dan Cushman, Tom Roan, Lee E. Wells, Clee Woods, Ben Frank, James Shaffer, and Harrison Colt. I'm not a fan of Ben Frank's work and don't really know anything about Shaffer or Colt, but the others are all dependable Western pulpsters. 

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: 10 Story Mystery Magazine, February 1942

Popular Publications' 10 STORY MYSTERY MAGAZINE lasted only nine issues, a lot shorter run than the much more successful 10 STORY WESTERN MAGAZINE. But that doesn't mean the stories weren't good. I have no idea who did the cover on this one, but I know you can't trust a skeleton in a top hat. That's just common sense. There's a good, if somewhat odd, mix of authors inside, several of them better known in other genres: Western writer Lee E. Wells, Weird Menace author John H. Knox (to be fair, Knox wrote a lot of mysteries, too, but it's his Weird Menace stuff that's still in print), science fiction author C.M. Kornbluth (under the pseudonym Walter C. Davies), WEIRD TALES stalwart Carl Jacobi, and prolific aviation/air war author O.B. Myers. Also on hand are Francis K. Allan, Jackson Gregory Jr. (the son of Western and adventure author Jackson Gregory, I suppose), house-name Ray P. Shotwell, and two single-sale authors, Adam King and Scott Coudray. I don't own a copy of this pulp, but it certainly looks like something I'd be interested in reading.

Hell Strip - Lee Richards (Lee E. Wells)

Art by Lu Kimmel

The year is 1851, and Texas Ranger Dave Fleming is gripped by gold fever. He resigns from the Rangers and heads for Panama, intending to make his way to California and find his fortune in the goldfields. Unfortunately, through a series of misadventures, Dave winds up stranded in that tropical hellhole and goes to work for Marie Hooper, a beautiful redheaded American who owns the biggest saloon, gambling den, and bordello in Panama City. He also makes a bad enemy in Krim Paletz, the owner of a freight line who may well be the mastermind behind the outlaw gang terrorizing the whole country.

Then another former Ranger arrives in Panama, an old friend of Dave’s named Ran Runnels. Runnels, a deadly gunfighter and manhunter, has been recruited by representatives of the American, British, and French governments to bring law and order to Panama, no matter what it takes. He immediately gets Dave to sign on as his second-in-command, and they set out to track down the leaders of Panama’s criminal underworld.

HELL STRIP is a terrific book, a fast-moving blend of Western, historical, and hardboiled crime in an unusual setting. The actual author behind the Lee Richards pseudonym is the old pulpster and paperbacker Lee E. Wells. I read one of Wells’ Rio Kid pulp novels some years ago and thought it was okay, but I wasn’t impressed enough to seek out any more of his novels. Clearly, based on this Gold Medal paperback from 1955, that was a mistake. It could be that Wells just wasn’t all that well-suited to write a pulp series character. That’s been true with other authors I’ve encountered. But he sure spins a great yarn here.

In addition to the intrigue and gunplay and strong, likable protagonist, there’s a well-done romantic triangle, some harrowing scenes in a Panamanian prison, and a vivid rendering of the exotic setting. Wells even gives the reader a slight plot twist late in the book that’s effective even if it’s not really surprising, and the ending is very satisfying. This would have made a great 1950s movie with Clint Walker playing Dave, Audie Murphy as Runnels, Rhonda Fleming as Marie, and maybe John Dehner as the sinister Krim Paletz.

Even though HELL STRIP doesn’t break any new ground other than the Panama setting, Wells did such a good job spinning his yarn that it doesn’t matter. I had a wonderful time reading this book. Somewhat surprisingly, there’s an inexpensive e-book edition of it available on Amazon. If you’re a fan of hardboiled Westerns, I give it a very high recommendation.

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Ten Detective Aces, November 1942

For some reason, I've always liked those TEN DETECTIVE ACES covers with the red borders around them. It's a nice distinctive look. And I always love Norman Saunders covers. This one is no exception. Great action and details and that's a really good-looking woman. The stories inside are by some authors who ain't half-bad, either: Frederick C. Davis, Walker A. Tompkins, Norman A. Daniels, Harold Q. Masur, Joe Archibald, Lee E. Well, Stuart Friedman, plus a couple I hadn't heard of, Ken Kessler and Jimmy O'Brien, plus house name Guy Fleming. A couple of those authors, Tompkins and Wells, are best known as Western writers, but Davis and Archibald wrote quite a few Westerns, too, and Daniels did a few.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Fifteen Western Tales, November 1943

And so another Old West poker game comes down to a powdersmoke payoff on the cover of this issue of FIFTEEN WESTERN TALES. Sam Cherry was doing most of the covers for FIFTEEN WESTERN TALES during this era, but this one doesn't strike me as being Cherry's work. Whoever painted it, it's effective, no doubt about that. Inside are some excellent authors, including William Heuman, Tom W. Blackburn, Rod Patterson, Lee E. Wells, M. Howard Lane, Glenn Shirley, James Shaffer, Thomas Calvert McClary, house-names David Crewe, Ray P. Shotwell, and Logan C. Claybourne, and lesser-known authors Edwin K. Sloat and Byron W. Dalrymple. That poker player's left hand seems oddly misshapen. I'd like to think that plays into one of the stories inside, but I doubt it.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Big-Book Western Magazine, April 1947

Injury to a hat alert! And considering where that bullet is headed, it might just put a hole in the BIG-BOOK WESTERN MAGAZINE logo, too. This issue has the usual sterling line-up of authors often found in a Popular Publications Western pulp: Harry F. Olmsted, Stone Cody (Thomas Mount), D.B. Newton, Tom Roan, Roe Richmond, James P. Olsen, W.F. Bragg, and Lee E. Wells. Prolific and well-regarded pulpsters, all. 

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Star Western, August 1947

For our last Western pulp cover of the year, we've got a pretty tough-looking hombre on this STAR WESTERN cover by the ubiquitious Sam Cherry, as regular commenter Tiziano Agnelli referred to him last week. Cherry doesn't get as much attention as some pulp and paperback cover artists do, but man, he turned out a lot of work and nearly all of it was excellent. He's one of my favorite artists, no doubt about it. And a couple of my favorite Western pulp authors, Walt Coburn and Harry F. Olmsted, have stories in this issue, along with other top-notchers Philip Ketchum, Joseph Chadwick, Giff Cheshire, Lee E. Wells, and Marvin De Vries. STAR WESTERN was always good.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Frontier Stories, Spring 1947

I don't know who the artist is, but I like the cover on this issue of FRONTIER STORIES. There's plenty to like about the authors in this issue, too, including L.P. Holmes, Dan Cushman, Joseph Chadwick, Lee E. Wells, and M. Howard Lane. I've seen white horses with that same design on them in red paint on other FRONTIER STORIES covers, so that artist must have liked the image. 

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Lariat Story Magazine, January 1946

This issue of LARIAT STORY MAGAZINE came up in the comments on last Sunday's pulp post, as did the one I'll be posting tomorrow. This cover is by Fiction House stalwart Allen Anderson, although I don't think it's a typical Anderson cover. Still a pretty good one, though. Inside are stories by William Hopson, Giles A. Lutz, Lee E. Wells, Curtis Bishop, R.S. Lerch, and lesser-known authors John C. Ropke, Harold R. Stoakes, and Walter Galli.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: .44 Western Magazine, October 1946

Something of a rarity on this issue of .44 WESTERN, a cover by Sam Cherry on a pulp not published by the Thrilling Group. But as usual with a Western pulp published by Popular Publications, there are some great authors and titles. For example, "A Hundred Wagons, Rolling to Hell!" by Tom Roan and "Gun-Brothers of the Brimstone Border" by Ed Earl Repp. You don't get more Popular Publications Western pulp than that. Other authors on hand are Joseph Chadwick, Lee E. Wells, M. Howard Lane, and Harry Van Demark, as himself and as Jared Kingsley.

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: 10-Story Detective Magazine, May 1943

I love the way this cover by Jerome Rozen jumps out at you, as well as the way the guy is carrying the skull like a football and stiff-arming the other guy. That's a pose right off one of the sports pulps, but I don't remember ever seeing any of those that involve skulls. Inside this issue of 10-STORY DETECTIVE MAGAZINE are stories by some fine pulpsters including W.T. Ballard, Norman A. Daniels (once as himself and once as by David M. Norman), Joe Archibald, and Lee E. Wells. With that cover and those authors, I'd read that one.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: .44 Western, October 1947

.44 WESTERN MAGAZINE was another solidly dependable Western pulp from Popular Publications, and this issue has a nice action-packed cover. The lead novella is by Max Kesler. I don't know anything about him, but I've seen several oil field stories by him and this appears to be another one, judging by its title. Other authors in this issue are Walker A. Tompkins (one of my favorite Western writers), Will C. Brown (actually C.S. Boyles, Jr., the other writer from Cross Plains, Texas, who was a few years older than Robert E. Howard), Lee E. Wells, Harold F. Cruickshank, and Harrison Colt, a name that's always struck me as a pseudonym or house-name, but I don't have any confirmation of that. This looks like a pretty good issue.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Western Aces, April 1943

This issue of WESTERN ACES sports an action-packed cover by Allen Anderson, an artist usually more associated with Fiction House pulps, instead of Ace. But it's a good one, and I like it. J. Edward Leithead has only one story in this issue, the lead novelette, which is kind of unusual because he often had two stories in an issue of WESTERN ACES, one of them under his Wilson L. Covert pseudonym. In my experience, Leithead is always worth reading, no matter what the by-line, and I love the title "Trail of the Hoodooed Herd". Also in this issue are stories by another favorite of mine, Gunnison Steele (Bennie Gardner), Lee E. Wells, Joe Austell Small, Stephen Payne, Orlando Rigoni, R.S. Lerch, and none other than Leslie Reasoner, no relation to me but the only Reasoner to get his name in a pulp magazine, as far as I know. (And technically, we are related, I suppose, because all the Reasoners can trace their ancestry back to one guy who came to this country in the early 1700s. But I digress . . .)

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Ace-High Western Stories, August 1946

With its red, white, and blue color scheme and prominently featured star, the cover of this issue of ACE-HIGH WESTERN STORIES seemed appropriate to post today, since the Fourth of July is coming up next week. Not only is the cover striking visually, the contents inside include stories by Walker A. Tompkins, Wayne D. Overholser, Thomas Thompson, Lee E. Well, Brett Austin (who was really Lee Floren), and Bob Obets. A good solid line-up of Western pulpsters, in other words.

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Detective Short Stories, October 1947

This issue of DETECTIVE SHORT STORIES features a number of authors better known for other types of fiction instead of mystery and detective yarns. Lee E. Wells and Rod Patterson wrote mostly Westerns in their careers. Bryce Walton was a triple threat but more highly regarded for his science fiction tales, along with being a prolific contributor to the Western pulps. Eric Howard and Ralph Berard (who was really Victor H. White) wrote a lot of Westerns. Ken Jason was a house-name used on all sorts of stories. The only authors in this issue I think of first and foremost as mystery writers are William Campbell Gault and Herbert Brean, and to be fair, Gault wrote a lot of other stuff, too. However, this sort of versatility is one of the things I admire the most about the pulpsters, so I'm sure this is a pretty good issue.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Lariat Story Magazine, November 1946

Almost every time I see a cover from LARIAT STORY, I think, "I want to write that story!" This one is no exception. Someone beat me to it, of course. Authors in this issue include Dan Cushman, Lee E. Wells, Rollin Brown, Ben Frank, Richard Brister, and John A. Saxon.