Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Lariat Story Magazine, April 1935

This issue of LARIAT STORY MAGAZINE sports a nice dramatic cover by Emery Clarke (who also did a bunch of Doc Savage covers in the late Thirties and early Forties) and a really strong group of authors inside. There are stories by Walt Coburn, Eugene Cunningham, James P. Olsen, Bennett Foster, Richard Wormser, Ralph Condon, house-name John Starr, and Fred J. Jackson, unknown to me but who wrote hundreds of stories in a career that lasted from 1906 to 1937. That's a good long run! Coburn, Cunningham, and Olsen are favorites of mine and Foster and Wormser were dependable pulpsters, as well. Plenty of good reading in this issue, I'll bet.

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Blue Book, August 1941

I don't think this cover is as good as many others by Herbert Morton Stoops, but this is an important issue of BLUE BOOK anyway. It's the last one that was a true pulp. Trimmed, maybe, but still a pulp. The next issue it went to the larger quarto size. As usual with BLUE BOOK, H. Bedford-Jones is well-represented in the Table of Contents with three stories, one under his own name and one each as by Gordon Keyne and Michael Gallister. Also contributing to this issue are Richard Wormser, Georges Surdez, Lemuel de Bra, Robert R. Mill, Raymond S. Spears, Jacland Marmur, and little-known writers John Upton Terrell, George Agnew Chamberlain, Charles Wellington Furlong, and George Weston. With Bedford-Jones anchoring their stable, BLUE BOOK always had good authors in its pages.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Lariat Story Magazine, December 1934

I'm not a big fan of artist Fred Craft, but I'll admit that his cover for this early issue of LARIAT STORY MAGAZINE is pretty dynamic. And the line-up of authors in this issue can't be beat: Walt Coburn, Eugene Cunningham, Tom Roan, Richard Wormser, James P. Olsen, C.K. Shaw, Archie Joscelyn, and house-name John Starr. Lots of good reading there, I'll bet.

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Detective Action Stories, October/November 1937

That's a pretty dramatic cover on the final issue of a fairly short-lived detective pulp, DETECTIVE ACTION STORIES. I don't know the artist, but he came up with an eye-catching scene there. Inside are stories by Richard Wormser, Anthony M. Rud, Raymond S. Spears, and a couple of authors I haven't heard of, B.B. Fowler and Oscar Graeve. That's not really a sterling line-up, although Wormser and Rud were pretty darned good. Might explain why DETECTIVE ACTION STORIES didn't last all that long. 

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Argosy, March 26, 1938

That's a nice circus cover by Emmett Watson on this issue of ARGOSY. The story it illustrates is a serial called "You're in the Circus Now" by Richard Wormser, a fine author who also wrote at least one serial for ARGOSY about a traveling carnival. The Tarzan story mentioned on the cover is a serial installment of "The Red Star of Tarzan", published in book form as TARZAN AND THE FORBIDDEN CITY. There's also an installment of a Horatio Hornblower novel by C.S. Forester, "Ship of the Line", and that didn't even make the cover. Plus stories by Frank Richardson Pierce and Bennett Foster. I know the serials make ARGOSY daunting for collectors, but man, there was a lot of great fiction published in its pages!

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Argosy, November 7, 1936

"A Novel of Strange Adventure" says the cover blurb about the lead novel in this issue of ARGOSY, and it's got a strange but effective cover to go with it. The mid-Thirties was the best era for ARGOSY, in my opinion. This issue features stories by Donald Barr Chidsey, Cornell Woolrich, Richard Wormser, L. Ron Hubbard, Murray Leinster, and George Bruce. Martin McCall, the by-line on "The Last Crusade", was a house-name. E. Hoffmann Price used the name on the Matala series published in RED STAR ADVENTURES a few years later, but I believe that was the only time. So as far as I know, the real author of this serial is unknown.

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Argosy, December 4, 1937

What a great era for ARGOSY this was. A Thibaut Corday yarn by Theodore Roscoe, serial installments by Lester Dent, Borden Chase, and Allan Vaughan Elston, plus stories by William Chamberlain and Richard Wormser. The readers back then definitely got their dime's worth of great adventure fiction.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Lariat Story, January 1950

I probably post too many covers from LARIAT STORY, but dang, I like the covers by Allen Anderson, including this one with another of his odd-looking horses, and the story titles. I really want to read "Blood-Guns of the Crazy Moon!", especially since it's by Les Savage Jr., one of the better pulp Western authors. Heck, I wouldn't mind writing a story called "Blood-Guns of the Crazy Moon!" Savage and Richard Wormser (a reprint under the John Starr house-name) are the only recognizable authors in this issue.

Free E-Book Friday from Black Dog Books

Due to a technical glitch at Amazon our free eBook offering last week of Horse Money was only made available to Kindle Prime users instead of the general public.

We are offering Horse Money again today as a free eBook download through Amazon. Be sure to take advantage of this opportunity and get this great collection of  four hard-boiled novellas of crime and intrigue around the Sport of Kings.

Horse Money—The Cases of Chief Van Eyck, Race Track Detective. With an introduction by Robert J. Randisi.

Known from Saratoga to Belmont and throughout the racing circuit, Chief Van Eyck keeps the bookies and fix games in check—whether using a little strong-arm, or the nickel-platted death securely tucked in his shoulder holster.

And Van Eyck is never above picking up a few greenbacks on the side himself, thanks to an inside tip or two from the jockey club.

Grab a stool, order a strong one and slid to the edge of your seat as the ponies and Van Eyck both give a thrill ride from wire to wire!

Free E-Book from Black Dog Books Tomorrow!

Free eBook Offer, Saturday May 12th
Horse Money—Free eBook offer for May 12!

To promote the BDB line of eBooks, the title Horse Money will be available as a free download for Kindle all day Saturday, May 12.

Be sure to take advantage of this opportunity and get this great collection of  crime stories.

Four hard-boiled novellas of crime and intrigue around the Sport of Kings.

The Cases of Chief Van Eyck, Race Track Detective. With an introduction by Robert J. Randisi.

"These are perfect reading for anyone who enjoys hard-boiled characters and race track settings. Sit back, relax and start reading-and enjoying."—Robert J. Randisi

Known from Saratoga to Belmont and throughout the racing circuit, Chief Van Eyck keeps the bookies and fix games in check—whether using a little strong-arm, or the nickel-platted death securely tucked in his shoulder holster.

And Van Eyck is never above picking up a few greenbacks on the side himself, thanks to an inside tip or two from the jockey club.
Grab a stool, order a strong one and slid to the edge of your seat as the ponies and Van Eyck both give a thrill ride from wire to wire.

(I've read two of the four stories in this book so far and thoroughly enjoyed them. I recommend you grab a copy tomorrow!)