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Saturday 26 January 2019

Merle Constiner - biographical article



RARE MOMENT—It seldom happens that writer Merle Constiner is seen away from his typewriter, even for a few minutes. Here in one of those rare moments he is pictured in the living room of his 130-year old home in Monroe.
(Journal photo—Barr)

This article about one of my favorite historical mystery and western writers was published in the Middletown, Ohio Journal on April 20, 1958. Constiner created two well-regarded series for Black Mask and Dime Detective, and I enjoy them, but i enjoy his historical fiction in Blue Book and the Country Gentleman more.

Saturday 19 January 2019

An inside look at Ziff Davis in the pulp years

An inside look at pulp publisher Ziff-Davis as seen through their house magazine, Z-D Mirror. Three issues from 1951 featuring articles on the beginnings of Ziff-Davis (with photos of both), profiles of office personnel from the operations and publication departments and coverage of the launch of Fantastic.

Full scans at the link below:




Saturday 12 January 2019

Richard Deming - Detective/Mystery author

Read a story by Richard Deming in the  August, 1952 issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. The story is “For Value Received” and it’s an excellent revenge story. I wanted to learn something about the author and came across this article in the Dunkirk-Fredonia Evening Observer, July 9th, 1960. If you have any recommendations of stories by him that you’ve read, leave a note in the comments.

Full Name: Richard Franklin Deming
Born: Apr 25 1915 in Des Moines, Iowa
Died: Sep 05 1983 in Los Angeles, California


Richard Deming - Crime/Mystery/Detective Author c. 1960

Saturday 5 January 2019

Mystery pulpster - guess who

Maybe you've already seen him, almost certainly read his stories, and perhaps even watched a movie adaptation of his novel. Guess which famous pulp author/collector you're seeing (age nearly 20 years) in this photo. Official answer next week, your guesses in the comments. Bonus points for identifying all the pulp titles on the shelves.

Arthur C. Clarke c. 1937 with his pulp magazine collection
Magazines in background include Wonder Stories, Amazing Stories, Astounding Stories and Science Wonder Quarterly