Two Harold Lamb stories – Samples from University of Nebraska Press

 

Two short stories from Harold Lamb for your reading pleasure. These stories are excerpts from the Harold Lamb collections, Swords from the Sea and Swords from the East, published by University of Nebraska Press. They also contain the introductions to these collections, so if you want to know more about them before buying, here’s a good time to check them out. Click on the links to the story titles to read them.

Longsword   From Swords from the Sea	Vikings to the rescue!!! Brian the Viking buys the girl he loves---a story of Constantinople in the day of the Caesars, when pacifists died young.
The Gate in the Sky   From Swords from the East	Maak the reindeer herder tries to recover his stolen herd. With no weapons, will he succeed?

 

Western Pulps from the Pulp Magazines Project

Some Western pulps have been added to the Pulp Magazines Project collection: Includes stories by W.C. Tuttle, Ernest Haycox, H.A. DeRosso, Walt Coburn, Hapsburg Liebe, Johnston McCulley, S. Omar Barker and others. Click on the links below the pictures to open the magazine.

Support them in any way you can.

	THE FEUDISTS by Ernest Haycox THE GUN by Stephen Payne SHERIFF TROUBLE by Eugene Cunningham A WESTERN CROSSWORD PUZZLE by Ruth Nails DOLLARS TO CLINK by Bertrand W. Sinclair RAW LAND by Harry Sinclair Drago OH, RIDE THE DRY RIVER! by S. Omar Barker ENCHANTED RANCH by Arthur Preston Hankins
All Western Magazine April-June 1950
	ALIAS ADAM JONES By W. C. TUTTLE THE MARSHAL OF GOLDFORK (Novelet) by Walker A. Tompkins THE INDIAN RING (Novelet) by Joseph Chadwick TOO STALWART FOR HIS OWN GOOD by Andrew Bronson BANDY LEGS by Richard Brister BROAD SHOULDERS by Cliff Walters THE COWBOY HAD A WORD FOR IT by Chuck Stanley CRISIS ON THE CURLY Q by Don Alviso MEN OF THEIR WORD by William O’Sullivan TRAIL BLAZERS by Captain Ranger
Exciting Western September 1947
	RIDE WITH THE GUNSMOKE JUDAS by Thomas Thompson DRAW FAST—OR DIE! by Bryce Walton THE DEADLY SECOND by Henry Carlton Jones THE BUSHWHACK BARGAIN by Richard Ferber NEVER SELL YOUR SADDLE! by H.A. DeRosso THE MEDICINE WIRE by Bennett Foster OVER THE HILL TO HELL by Robert Trimnell WHILE THE GALLOWS WAIT by Dave Sands SAD NOSE JOE—RAIN MAKER! by Harold Heifer BRING HIM BACK DEAD! by John C. Colohan GUN-MEETING AT MIDNIGHT by Jonathan Craig INJUN LIST by Walt Coburn
Fifteen Western Tales January, 1953
	RAIDERS OF RIFLE ROCK By Lee E. Wells MAN-HUNTING MUSTANG by Jack Slerrett STAR ON HIS DESK by Hapsburg Liebe NESTERS ARE POISON by Mel Pitzer CLAWS OF PERDITION by Gunnison Steele TRAIL TALK (A Department) by Foghorn Clancy
Masked Rider Western Winter, 1945
	THE OUTLAW SHERIFF by Walker A. Tompkins WHELP OF THE FOX .by Johnston McCulley GUNSMOKE ON THE RANGE by Charles N. Heckelmann RUN, COYOTE. RUN .by L. P. Holmes HANGNOOSE BABBITT .by Harold F. Cruickshonk GOOD MAN TO WORK WITH by Jock Benton TRAIL TALK (A DepartmentJ .by Foghorn Clancy MULES ARE ALWAYS MULES (Foct Feoture) .by Gladwell Richardson
Masked Rider Western November, 1950
	YELLOW DEVIL STARVES TONIGHT! by Tom Roan HANG-TREE TRAIL by Marvin De Vries HOT BLOOD BRANDS THE CROSSBONE by Rod Patterson TROUBLE RIDES FROM TEXAS! by Charles W. Tyler TOO OLD TO DIE! by Charles D. Richardson, Jr. BREED OF THE LAWDOG by Richard Brisler GRAB WEAPONS—OR WEEP! by Robert Trimncll SANTA CLAUS OF BITTER CREEK by A. C. Abbott TRUST A DEAD MAN. by W.J. Reynolds BUCKSKIN LOBO by L. C. Davis RECORD WRANGLING by Arizona Blake MUD AND MARES by Roy Vandergoot ARTISTS OF THE DIAMOND HITCH by J. W. Irving TREASURE OF SAN SABA by Dave Sands
Ten Story Western December 1949
	WHEN A TEXAS TOWN GOES GUN-CRAZY by George M. Conklin EMPTY SADDLES MEAN WAR! By Morse Chandler THE KID FROM DAMNATION VALLEY by James P. Olsen NO MANBREAKERS WANTED! by W. H. B. Kent BORROWED BULLETS by Ralph Berard
Two-Gun Western Novels April 1942
	THE WILD TIME by John Lumsden THOU SHALT NOT KILL… by Ellis Sloan AS FAST AS THEY CAME by Harry Harrison Kroll SAM COLT’S KILLER by Gil Paust NOON TOMORROW by Philip Morgan FINAL CURTAIN by L. V. Pidgeon DEAD MAN’S HAND by Dick Baird LAST CARD by Clayton Fox ROTTEN BELLY’S SAD SIEGE by Noel M. Loomis TWO OR THREE FUNERALS by D. Aydelotte A TINHORN CHOOSES HOT LEAD by D. B. Newton THROUGH GUNSIGHTS by John Colohan BLOOD AND SWEAT — OR BULLETS? by L.P. Holmes KILLER’S HERITAGE by Norman A. Fox HARDCASE OR COWARD? by Gunnison Steele
Two-Gun Western Novels November 1955

F. R. Buckley - Swashbuckling author

Frederick Robert Buckley aka F.R. Buckley (1896-1976), is probably best known for his series of stories in Adventure, about Luigi Caradosso, an Italian soldier of fortune in the middle ages. The Caradosso stories are told, tongue firmly in cheek, in the form of letters from a man in his retirement, offering advice to his master’s successor. Buckley was also the author of the Peg-Leg Garfield series about a one-legged sheriff who muddled his way through life and crimes, and a writer of western stories as well.

Altus Press reprints from Dime Detective and Black Mask

 

We live in an amazing time when a lot of pulp stories are being reprinted. Reprints from Altus Press (wide range of pulpy stuff), Black Dog Books (focuses on adventure pulps) and Haffner Press (concentrates on science fiction and fantasy, with some detective stuff as well), to mention a few, are doing an amazing job of selecting the best pulp stories and reprinting them.

For detective and mystery lovers, there is a lot to look forward to this fall. Altus Press has an amazing line of reprints from Black Mask and Dime Detective lined up.

Robert Sampson in Yesterday’s Faces – The Solvers:   The MacBride-Kennedy stories were one of Nebel’s major contributions to the magazine. Not as poetic as Chandler, not as realistically detailed as Hammett, the series is an extended masterpiece of hardboiled fiction, violence wrapped around a core of pity. MacBride and his wayward cops are unlike any police you meet in more gritty police procedurals. But in spite of their imperfect professional techniques, they come alive. They move through that terrible world you sometimes sense behind the headlines, that fouled place where graft, corruption, and murder are customary.   A comprehensive introduction to the series can be found at the Black Mask Magazine site.
	James Reasoner on Vee Brown:   Brown is one of the first playboy/detectives, but unlike Bruce Wayne or Richard Curtis Van Loan, his activities as a cop are known to all while the source of his considerable wealth is a secret. This leads a newspaper reporter to investigate him, and the reporter is the narrator of the story, not Brown, which makes for a considerable difference from Daly's yarns about Race Williams. The prose is more restrained, though it can get get pretty lurid in the action scenes. And Vee Brown is an interesting character, small and unathletic, but deadly with a gun and willing to meet the criminals on their own ground and deal out his own brand of justice. Cultured, well-educated, and wryly humorous even as he's gunning down the villains, it's almost like Niles Crane became the Spider instead of Richard Wentworth.
From the Thrilling Detective site:   CASS BLUE's a New York private dick who appeared in several short stories in Dime Detective back in the thirties. With his hard-ass attitude, a conveniently flexible set of morals and a blackjack on his hip, he's ready for just about anything. His pals include speakeasy owner Al Lascoine, who serves up booze and alibis.   The stories are all rendered in pulpster Lawrence's trademark first person, over-boiled prose style, full of gunfights and plot holes. Lawrence may not have been much of a writer, but he sure knew how to slap together the usual suspects to make a slam-bang action story.
	From the Thrilling Detective site:   Lawrence is probably best known for his tales of The Broadway Squad, the most ruthless, vicious gang of thugs to ever pin on badges in the pulps.   Courtesy alt.pulp:   Marty Marquis was an amoral detective in charge of a squad of thieves, extortionists and murderers, who were cops.
Walker Martin on Mr. Maddox (courtesy Mysteryfile):   Flynn’s major detective effort was the long running Mr Maddox series in Dime Detective. Between 1938 and running into 1950 he appeared at least 35 times, all of them long novelets, some close to 20,000 words. Each story was a mystery/detective tale starring Joe Maddox, a racetrack bookie who along with his sidekick, Oscar, was always involved in complex murder cases. His nemesis was a cop named Cassidy.   Now frankly, when I first started reading these stories in 1969 and 1970, I did not particularly like them at all. They were ok but definitely not favorites of mine. However, as I continued collecting Dime Detective and completing my set(274 issues), I realized that this was the longest running series by far and must of been very popular with the readers. So I kept giving him a chance and reading others in the series and you can guess what happened. I began to love the character and the stories.   Give Mr Maddox a try and you too might become a fan of “The Bland Buddha Of the Bangtail Circuit”.
	Ron Goulart on the Rambler in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine:   Murphy shared his creator’s peripatetic inclinations. In the dozen and a half Rambler yarns he crisscrossed the country, working as a reporter on big  metropolitan tabloids and small-town sheets. He generated front-page stories that unmasked gambling kingpins, cunning kidnappers, tommyguntoting hoodlums and once a “night-shirted order that [combined] the worst features of the Ku Klux and the Black Legion.” In all of the Rambler adventures certain things were certain. Murphy would always get a job on a newspaper, he would meet an attractive and bright young woman, he would crack a baffling case, and then, no matter how tempted to stay, would resume his rambles.
Can anyone help here? I couldn’t find anything online. Edit: From a comment by Walker Martin below: The Keyhole Kerry series lasted for 8 novelets during 1937-1939. He was a sort of Walter Winchell type reporter that had his own radio show and was constantly getting involved in murder cases. Another interesting series character from Fred Davis who was cranking out unusual detective series characters for editor Ken White at DIME DETECTIVE during the mid-thirties through the 1940's period.
	Hugh B. Cave:   Tough, cantankerous Inspector Allhoff, who lost his legs in a shoot-out with crooks armed with a machine-gun, lives across the street from Police Headquarters in a slum tenement building and solves intricate mysteries while guzzling endless cups of coffee. Allhoff is one of the characters who graced the lively pages of Dime Detective Magazine in the heyday of that magazine's highly successful career. These Inspector Allhoff stories are great detective mystery yarns, mostly developed via lively dialogue between Allhoff and his colleagues, and told in the first person by one of the colleagues. And from myself: I have enjoyed all the stories of Inspector Allhoff I've read so far in the collection, Footprints on the Brain.

Blog post about a person who worked at Adventure magazine, and some letters

I just came across this blog article authored by a person whose aunt worked at Adventure magazine, probably as a manuscript reader. It has letters from her aunt to people whose mss was rejected, and an inter-office memo of the time.

Thought it was worth sharing with you.

The Lost God - short story by John Russell



Locations of the stories in John Russell's collection "Where the Pavement Ends", from where this story is taken

 

This short story by John Russell is about an explorer who becomes a god. A standard pulp trope, you might say, and yet this has an unexpected ending. Or is it a beginning? This was made into a movie with Fay Wray and Richard Arlen.

Download the story here, and if you like it, there's more like it from the same author. Ebook only , I'm afraid. Still, it's free and you can read it in your browser of choice if you so desire.

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32946