The Wrap Up

I think we all know there was no shortage of terrible things happening this year, but why dwell on the negative? I’m going to try to look at a few positive things.

First and foremost, I’m still here, and Livia, Shayna, and Joanna are still putting up with me. This day and age, that’s something to feel good about.

A few days ago, I celebrated the 47^th anniversary of my first fiction sale. Most writing careers don’t last that long, so I’m very happy to still be turning out the pages, even though there are fewer of them than there used to be. I also think I’m still writing with a fair degree of competence. I have a legitimate shot at being in this crazy business for half a century, and that seems pretty good to me.

I also read a lot of good books. Here are my ten favorites for the year, alphabetical by author:

PUNK & OTHER STORIES, Cleve F. Adams
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MATTHEW SCUDDER, Lawrence Block
THE ART OF RON LESSER, VOLUME 1: DEADLY DAMES AND SEXY SIRENS, Robert Deis, Bill Cunningham, and J. Kingston Pierce, eds.
SPILL THE JACKPOT, A.A. Fair (Erle Stanley Gardner)
MALIBU BURNING, Lee Goldberg
LORD OF A SHATTERED LAND, Howard Andrew Jones
DARK AVENGER: THE STRANGE SAGA OF THE SHADOW, Will Murray
THE EYE OF THE TIGER, Wilbur Smith
THE NOVELIZERS, David Spencer
THE GRAVES IN THE MEADOW, Manning Lee Stokes

There were plenty of other excellent books I could have included. It was difficult narrowing the list down to ten. If you check the posts for each month you’ll find lots of other good reading that I recommend.

I plan to write about the same amount in 2024 but I hope there’ll be a few more books with my name on them. We’ll see. And I certainly intend to keep reading as much as I can, although my attention span isn’t what it once was and that makes it a challenge to get through longer books. So I don’t really foresee a lot changing, which actually makes me a little nervous because life has a habit of throwing curveballs at all of us. As always, we’ll have to wait and see what happens, but I wish all of you out there the very best for the New Year.

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Far East Adventure Stories, September 1931

That's a very effective, evocative cover by Don Hewitt on this issue of FAR EAST ADVENTURE STORIES. I certainly would have picked that one up off the newsstand back in 1931, and the authors inside probably would have prompted me to slap down a couple of dimes if I had them: H. Bedford-Jones (with part of a John Solomon story), two stories by Hugh B. Cave (one under his pseudonym Geoffrey Vace), a yarn by Bob du Soe, and stories by forgotten pulpsters Chester L. Saxby, Sgt. Herbert E. Smith, A.L. De Burgh, and T.S. Southwick. De Burgh has only two credits in the FMI, Southwick only one, and that always makes me suspect the names are pseudonyms for better known authors, but who knows? All I know is that this looks like a very enjoyable pulp, and it's the final one of the year in this series. But I'll be back next week in a new year, if all goes according to plan. 

Saturday Morning Bonus Pulp: Speed Western Stories, October 1945

I'm thinking the cover on this issue of SPEED WESTERN STORIES is by H.W. Scott, but as always, I could be wrong about that. It's a nice dramatic scene no matter who painted it. Inside are stories by three Trojan Publishing Corporation stalwarts: Laurence Donovan, Edwin Truett Long (as Luke Terry), and Victor Rousseau (as Lew Merrill). The other authors are three little-known but apparently real pulpsters, Felix Flammonde, Frank D. Compagnon, and Frederick W. Bales. Long died July 13, 1945, so this must have been one of his last stories. He's buried in Fort Worth and I've thought about going to see if I could find his grave. It might be nice to have a picture of me standing by the final resting place of such a prolific pulp author. But so far I haven't gotten around to it.

Spicy Zeppelin Stories - Will Murray

SPICY ZEPPELIN STORIES is a pulp reprint of a pulp that never existed. As author Will Murray explains in his introduction, the concept began as a joke in the early days of Odyssey Publications, one of the first of the pulp reprinters back in the Eighties. Under a variety of pseudonyms, some of them anagrams of his real name, Murray set out to write stories in various pulp genres, basing his style in them on actual pulp authors, but adding in the spicy elements common to the genre (most often, beautiful young women losing some or all of their clothes by accident). The stories remained in his files for years but were finally gathered together and published by Tattered Pages Press. Now, in a real full circle move, Odyssey Publications has just brought out a new edition, using the never-before-seen original cover by Mike Symes and art from the Tattered Pages Press edition by Bobb Cotter.

That background is fun for pulp fans, but here’s where it gets really interesting: this book may have had its origins in a joke, but that doesn’t mean Murray failed to take writing the stories seriously. It may have been early in his career when he produced these yarns, but his storytelling ability was already there, along with a keen grasp of pulp history and what makes such stories work.

The collection leads off with “Gondola Girl”, a novella featuring tycoon King “Steel” Chane, whose efforts to establish an airship line are being sabotaged. The battle between Chane and his rival leads to a South Seas island where an important secret is waiting to be discovered. Murray’s inspiration in this story is Lester Dent, and as he continued to do for decades afterward, he does a great job of capturing the breakneck pace of Dent’s work.

“Gasbag Buckaroo” (great title) finds a stalwart young cowboy trying to solve the mystery of who’s rustling cattle from the ranch belong to the young woman he loves. “Hydrogen Horror” is a World War I spy yarn with a lot of flying action. In “Zeps of the Void”, two-fisted adventurer Solar Smith fights space pirates. G-Man Jeff Holt tries to discover who murdered all the passengers on a train speeding through the Kentucky hills in “Rail Lair”. No pulp collection would be complete without a Weird Menace story, and “Catwalk Creeper” fills the bill in this volume with a tale of passengers on a trans-Atlantic zeppelin flight turned to stone by a mysterious killer. The book wraps up with “Chane”, another appearance by King “Steel” Chane, the hero of “Gondola Girl”. This enigmatic tale brings up more questions than it answers.

While Murray’s writing may not be as polished in these stories than it is later on, the sense of fun and enthusiasm in them is highly infectious. I had a great time reading them. His command of the various genres is top-notch and all the stories race along, taking the reader with them on a thrilling ride. I really enjoyed SPICY ZEPPELIN STORIES. It’s available in paperback and hardcover editions, and I give it a high recommendation for all pulp fans.

The Annual December 27 Post

Regular readers of this blog know that today marks the anniversary of my first fiction sale, back on December 27, 1976. 47 years ago today, a number that makes me shake my head in disbelief. I’m sure that back in 1976 I hoped I would still be writing and selling almost half a century later, but I’m equally certain that I wouldn’t have bet money on it.

But here we are, and if you want to read the background of that first sale, you can find it in my original post on the subject from 2004. I noticed when looking up that post that there are comments from Todd Mason and Juri Nummelin, who are still good friends and regular commenters here all these years later. I’m thankful for that continuity.

I’m thankful as well for everyone who’s contributed to me being able to stay in this business for so long, including all the fine editors and writers I’ve worked with over the years, as well as all the readers who have ever sat down and cracked open one of my books. And of course I couldn’t have done any of it without Livia, Shayna, and Joanna. My thanks and love to all of you. I’m at the point where I’m genuinely curious to see how long I can keep this up.

By the way, that isn't the exact model of typewriter I used in those early days, but I typed thousands of pages on one very much like it.

Merry Christmas!

I don't have an abundance of the Christmas spirit this year, but I sincerely wish all of you a Merry Christmas and I hope the day goes well for you.

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Argosy All-Story Weekly, December 25, 1926

This is the Christmas issue of ARGOSY ALL-STORY WEEKLY from 1926. The cover is by Raymond Thayer, an artist whose work I don't know. Most of the author names inside are unfamiliar as well. There are a few obvious Christmas stories: "The Town That Believed in Santa Claus" by A.T. Locke, "A Grown-Up Christmas" by Richard F. Merrifield, and "The Holly King" by F. St. Mars, plus a couple of Christmas poems. There are also stories by Fred MacIsaac, Frank Richardson Pierce, and C.C. Waddell, best remembered today for collaborating with Carroll John Daly on the novel TWO-GUN GERTA. I doubt if I would have gone out of my way to read this one, had I seen it on the newsstand in 1926, but I'm sure there were plenty of people who did since ARGOSY, in all its various incarnations, was a very successful magazine for a long time.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: December 23, 1922

101 years ago, this was the Christmas issue of Street & Smith's WESTERN STORY MAGAZINE, when it wasn't as venerable and iconic a pulp as it came to be over the next couple of decades. But it was already the home of a great deal of fine Western fiction. There are several obvious Christmas stories in this one: "Peg Leg's Christmas Party" by F.R. Buckley, "'Merry Christmas'" by Frank Richardson Pierce, and "The Yuletide Trail" by A.M. Chisholm. Plus some stories with titles that might or might not be indicative of holiday subject matter: "The Glacier Cache" by Courtney Ryley Cooper, "The Bladed Barrier" by Joseph B. Ames, and "The Power of Prayer" by John Frederick, actually Frederick Faust his own self. There's another story by Courtney Ryley Cooper, "Bears and Bystanders", which doesn't sound the least bit Christmasy, and one called "The White Chink" by obscure pulpster Lupe Loya. I have no idea who did the art for this cover.

I was somewhat intrigued by Courtney Ryley Cooper because I'd never heard of him. I found this information about him online:

Courtney Ryley Cooper (1886-1940) was an American writer, journalist, circus performer, publicist, and noted crime novelist. Born in Kansas City, he joined the circus at age 16 where he worked first as a clown, eventually working his way up to general manager. After a brief stint as a journalist and as a marine, Cooper turned to writing screenplays, westerns, and crime novels in the 1920s and 1930s. He achieved moderate success with his crime novels, even earning the admiration of F.B.I. director J. Edgar Hoover, who called him "the best informed man on crime in the U.S." Cooper committed suicide by hanging in a New York hotel room in 1940; persistent rumors suggested his death was actually murder, but no suspects were ever found. Cooper was reportedly investigating German activity in Mexico just prior to his death.

Sounds almost like a pulp character himself. There's a free e-book of one of his Westerns on Amazon. I grabbed it and may even get around to reading it one of these days. We'll see.

Lovers Don't Sleep - Laura Hale (Lorenz Heller)

Young, beautiful blonde Suzy Carr is head over heels in love with lawyer Harry Sloan, so in love that she doesn’t see how sleazy he is. Harry has a lucrative racket going, setting up quickie divorces when both parties want out of the marriage. Suzy makes a perfect foil for this shady scheme, letting Harry use her as “evidence” of adultery, courtesy of pictures taken by photographer Joe McBride, who’s actually a decent guy despite the racket he’s in. Then Harry’s actual mistress, wickedly beautiful femme fatale Camilla, cooks up a plan that involves getting rid of her unwanted husband, and it’s nothing as simple as a plain old divorce . . .

LOVERS DON’T SLEEP is another hardboiled romance novel by Lorenz Heller writing as Laura Hale, first published by Falcon Books in 1951 as part of the Exotic Novels line and recently reprinted with WILD IS THE WOMAN in a double volume by Stark House. I really enjoyed WILD IS THE WOMAN and LOVERS DON’T SLEEP is equally as good. The story races along at a very enjoyable pace, and Heller does a great job with the characters. Suzy isn’t all that bright, but she’s a very sympathetic protagonist, and Joe is a big, likable lug who’s clearly in love with her and wants to get both of them out of the mess in which they find themselves. Harry and Camilla are both suitably despicable. Heller orchestrates the twists and turns of their various relationships with great skill and the storytelling talent that keeps the reader flipping the pages.

Both novels in this double volume took me by surprise because I hadn’t really cared for the Lorenz Heller novels I’d tried in the past. Clearly, the fault in that lies with me, because based on WILD IS THE WOMAN and LOVERS DON’T SLEEP, he was a top-notch writer, a little reminiscent of Orrie Hitt but oriented more toward crime fiction. I give this double volume a high recommendation. It’s available in e-book and trade paperback editions on Amazon.

Sexton Blake: The Treasure of Tortoise Island - G.H. Teed

The novella “The Treasure of Tortoise Island” by G.H. Teed first appeared in the January 17, 1925 issue of UNION JACK and was reprinted in the collection SEXTON BLAKE WINS, where I read it. I found the UNION JACK image online. In this one, Blake is asked by the beautiful Lady Richmond to help her husband, who is suffering from some mysterious disease he picked up in the East Indies. Teed implies that some years past, Blake had a romantic interest in the lady, presumably before she was married, but he doesn’t provide any details, at least not in this story.

As it turns out, the only person who can help Lord Richmond is Dr. Huxton Rymer, the brilliant physician who abandoned medicine for a life of crime, becoming one of Sexton Blake’s archenemies in the process. Blake and Rymer agree to a truce, and Rymer goes off with Lord Richmond to the West Indies, where he can find the spices and herbs he needs to effect a cure. But Rymer can’t long ignore his criminal nature and soon teams up with Marie Galante, the beautiful octaroon who commands Kingston, Jamaica’s criminal underworld, on a new scheme involving his patient . . . which, of course, puts him at odds with Sexton Blake once more.

I may annoy, or even anger, some readers here, but I found this story to be something of a disappointment. The basic setup is all right, but Teed never does much with it, and with the exception of an early shootout and a big battle that wraps things up, there’s no action and a lot of the story’s events take place off-screen so that most of the time Teed seems to be summarizing things, rather than spinning an exciting yarn. Even that big battle at the end comes to a rather limp conclusion. This is the first story by Teed that I’ve read, and having seen him acclaimed as one of the best Sexton Blake writers, I’m left scratching my head. Is this just not one of his better entries, or am I missing something? That’s always possible with me.

I have a number of other Blake stories by Teed and certainly will read more by him. There are some nice bits in this one, just not enough of them, and I’m curious to see if I like some of this other yarns better.