Pulp Adventures #25

The 10th issue of the new Pulp Adventures — #25, Spring 2017 — is out. This issue has a set of new and reprinted pulp fiction, all under a Norman Saunders cover (again). No non-fiction other than the information on the authors or pulps these appeared in, which I think added to things. I’d just like to see an occasional full article on some topic. For pulp reprints, first up is one of Robert E. Howard‘s Sailor Steve Costigan stories, “Waterfront Fists” which appeared in Fight Stories. I was surprised to learn that this pulp, the first focused on a specific sport, ran for over two decades. Next, we get some different Western stories. First is “Chicago Man” by E.K. Jarvis, which ran in Mammoth Western in 1946. From Will H. Thompson, we get “Tigre and Isola” that appeared in Adventure way back in 1911. And then a very short short story by Larry Latham: “Desert Rescue.” This one appeared in Thrilling Comics, due to postage regulations. Comics had to have two pages of text, so many ran short stories or later letter pages. I recall seeing this in many of the comics I got in the ’60s. Since many early comic-book publishers where connected to pulp publishers, they could get this done. Lastly is a weird tale from the overlooked Greye La Spina. She contributed to many pulps, including Weird Tales, but I think she is largely unknown today. Arkham House put out a book of her works and Robert Weinberg reprinted her serialized story “Gargoyle” in one of his pulp reprint series. This one, “The Haunted Landscape,” is from Thrill Book in 1919, which was focused on unusual stories before the science fiction pulps or Weird Tales. For New Pulp we get Richard Lupoff‘s pulp hero The Golden Saint in “The Golden Saint Meets the Scorpion Queen.” Set on the eve of WWII, this pulp hero is different: she’s black. I don’t know if he’s written other stories with this character, but would like to see them. We get some of horror pulp stories. First is Stanley C. Sargent‘s “When the Means Just Defy the End,” which is a new look at Jack the Ripper. Bret Bouriseau‘s “The Night Visitor” and Tim J. Finn‘s “Vampire Blood Strip.” Stuart Hopen has actually been around a while writing fiction. We saw his character The Whisper in the last issue. And Bold Venture Press is publishing (or is it reprinting) his weird air war pulp series Twilight Patrol. And this issue we get a new story set in Florida: “Ritual Burning.” It’s another strange Hopen tale. Again, another great issue.