Smoking isn't good for you, especially when you have to pause in the middle of a gunfight to roll a quirley. This fine, slightly humorous cover is by Sam Cherry, who always delivered the goods. There are some good authors in this issue of FIFTEEN WESTERN TALES. William R. Cox has two stories, one as himself and one under the name Joel Reeve. Also on hand are C. William Harrison, Theodore J. Roemer, Al Storm, James Shaffer, M. Howard Lane, and four house-names: Lance Kermit, David Crewe, Ray P. Shotwell, and Logan C. Claybourne. Often when I'm stuck for the name of a minor character in a manuscript, I'll use a pulp house-name or pseudonym. Or I'll mix and match the real names of pulp authors. Obscure little references like that always entertain me, help keep me sane, and help keep the pages rolling along.
I've read several issues of BIG-BOOK WESTERN MAGAZINE over the years, but I've never read or even seen an issue of BIG-BOOK DETECTIVE MAGAZINE, Popular Publications' attempt to launch another detective pulp. Unlike its Western cousin, BIG-BOOK DETECTIVE MAGAZINE wasn't successful and ran only eight issues from December 1941 to February 1943. This is the second issue, and based on the good cover (don't know who painted it) and the lineup of authors, the magazine's failure wasn't warranted based on its quality. Authors on hand in this issue are T.T. Flynn, W.T. Ballard, Russell Gray (actually Bruno Fischer), Robert Sidney Bowen, Jackson Gregory Jr., and house-names Daniel Winters, Ray P. Shotwell, and David Crewe. The thing about those house-names is that this being Popular Publications, the actual authors were probably pretty darned good.
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.
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.
We have a tough-looking hombre, courtesy of Sam Cherry, gracing the cover on this issue of FIFTEEN WESTERN TALES. The collection of authors inside is pretty good, too: William Heuman, Philip Ketchum, Les Savage Jr., Tom W. Blackburn, Chuck Martin, Rod Patterson, M. Howard Lane, James C. Lynch, James Shaffer, house-names Ray P. Shotwell and Lance Kermit, and lesser known authors Frederick Bales and Joe Payne. They always counted the features in FIFTEEN WESTERN TALES, so actually there are only thirteen stories in this one.
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