Canine Covers in honor of National Dog Day

Pick your favorite. Mine's the German Shepherd in the Argosy.

Adventure, July 18, 1919 cover by James Reynolds	Argosy, February 7, 1925 cover by Charles Livingston Bull
Blue Book, February 1934 cover by Joseph C. Chenoweth	The Popular Magazine, March 20, 1916 cover by John A. Coughlin
Short Stories January 10th, 1941 cover by A.R. Tilburne	Western Story Magazine, August 31, 1931 cover by Sidney Riesenberg

Possibly the silliest pulp cover ever to feature a dog
Weird Tales October, 1925 cover by Andrew Brosnatch

Index to the fanzine Xenophile - part 2

Had the good luck recently to acquire a complete run of the fanzine Xenophile. Have been reading a few issues, shocked by the low prices and high dudgeon evinced by subscribers at price increases of pulps to as much as $3 for a late 1930s Black Mask issue. Didn't find it indexed, so this is my take on the index, which i plan to submit to FictionMags once it's done. Will post a few articles from it once I'm done indexing.

Suggestions for articles to post welcome, leave a comment.

If you find a mistake, leave a comment and I'll fix it.

Part 1 covers the first 22 issues. Part 2 covers the last 22 issues.

Xenophile [Vol 2 No 10(should be 11), #23, May 1976] (48pp, 8.5 x 11 in)

3 · Editorial · Nils Hardin · ed

Xenophile [Vol 2 No 11(should be 12), #24, July 1976] (52pp, 8.5 x 11 in)

1 · Editorial · Nils Hardin · ed

2 · Editorial · Nils Hardin · ed (not a mistake, there are 2 editorials)

5 · Pulp Collecting -- For Fun or Fortune · Rusty Hevelin · ar (reprint from April, 1974 issue)

6 · The 50 rarest and most uniquest pulps in the whole wide world · Karl Edward Wagner · hu

11 · Minter speaks up! · Richard Minter · ar

12 · Letters · lc

37 · Pulp Information Center· Nils Hardin · cl

40 · A partial history of pulp prices 1946-1973 · Nils Hardin · ar

43 · Review of Jim Steranko's article in Mediascene, 1976 · Don Hutchison · ar

44 · Letters · lc

Xenophile [Vol 2 No 12(should be 13), #25, August 1976] (50pp, 8.5 x 11 in)

1 · Editorial · Nils Hardin · ed

Xenophile [Vol 3 No 1, #26, September 1976] (84pp, 8.5 x 11 in)

1 · Editorial · Nils Hardin · ed

3 · Why Viking-lander? Why the planet Mars? · Ray Bradbury · pm

4 · Ray Bradbury ….index continued [Part 2 of 3] · Donn Albright · bi

11 · A review: Long after midnight · · br

12 · Long after Martian Chronicles · Nik Grant · br

12 · Long after midnight: Review #2 · Bruce Francis · br

13 · An index to Planet Stories [Part 4 of 4] · Robert O'Malley · bi

14 · An explanation of sorts or Why your universe really will not come to an end · Mike Resnick · ar

68 · Pulp Information Center· Nils Hardin · cl

70 · How to make your pulps last forever, sell your valuable pulps at top dollar and still have them, and acquire all rare pulps cheap, or Wow!!! · Bill Blackbeard and Richard Register · ar

72 · Letters · lc

Xenophile [Vol 3 No 3, #27, October 1976] (64pp, 8.5 x 11 in)

2 · Editorial · Nils Hardin · ed

Xenophile [Vol 3 No 4, #28, November/December 1976] (84pp, 8.5 x 11 in)

1 · Editorial · Nils Hardin · ed

2 · Casandra · Kucile Coleman · pm

3 · The pseudonymous Lovecraft · George Wetzel · ar

5 · Hot story · Basil Wells · bg

6 · Mss. found in the bottles, vintage wine department · Michael Avallone · bg

7 · A review from the microcosm: Michael Resnick's price guide , or A Perilous Pilgrimage to Cincinatti · Marvin Morrison · br

11 · Sunday supplements in retrospect or I remember the American Weekly, weakly… · Dean Grennell · ar

12 · Checklists, books by Frank Owen and Eric Frank Russell · Lemuel Nash · bi

71 · Pulp Information Center· Nils Hardin · cl

72 · The Shadower by "David Fox" (Isabel Ostrander) · William J. Clark · ar

77 · What was that zine again? Problems and solutions in upgrading your pulp texts · Bill Blackbeard · ar

78 · Letters · lc

Xenophile [Vol 3 No 5, #29, February 1977] (64pp, 8.5 x 11 in)

1 · Editorial · Nils Hardin · ed

Xenophile  [Vol 3 No 6, #30, March 1977] (156pp, 8.5 x 11 in)

1 · Editorial · Nils Hardin · ed

3 · Fantasy Collector · Winston Dawson; Richard Minter · cl

4 · The Thrill Book · Bob Jones · ar

9 · Index to The Thrill Book · Nils Hardin · bi

11 · Space project Valerian · Walter Shedlofsky · ss

12 · Classics of Science Fiction, Series II · Marvin Morrison · br

13 · Edmond Hamilton eulogy · Forrest Ackerman · ar

14 · Fiction by Edmond Hamilton · Joseph Kankowski · bi

17 · Jumping Jimmy Christopher (Operator #5) · Dean A. Grennell · ar

21 · The pulp library · Bob Sampson · cl

22 · New Books · David Turner · br

131 · Incident at the Grand Canyon · Nick Carr · ar

133 · The Thinking Machine · Link Hullar · ar

134 · To a scholar · Lucile Coleman · pm

135 · Murder multiplied, detection detained: A Survey of Garland's Fifty Crime Classics ed. Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor · Michael Murphy · br

136 · Group controlling pulp prices arrested! · Victor Dricks · ar

137 · Pulp Information Center· Nils Hardin · cl

140 · Photo essay of Popular Publications · pi

146 · Index to New Mystery Adventures/Mystery Adventure Magazine/Mystery Adventures Magazine [Part 2 of 2] · Fred Cook and Gordon Huber · bi

148 · Letters of lucubration · lc

147 · H. Bedford-Jones in People's · William J. Clark · bi

Xenophile combined with the Fantasy Collector [Vol 3 No 7, #31, April 1977] (32pp, 8.5 x 11 in)

3 · Editorial · Nils Hardin · ed

Xenophile combined with the Fantasy Collector [Vol 3 No 8, #32, May/June 1977] (68pp, 8.5 x 11 in)

1 · Editorial · Nils Hardin · ed

2 · Max Brand - pulp king · William F. Nolan · ar

10 · Max Brand's pulp characters · William F. Nolan · ar

13 · Confessions of a pulp western hack · Walker Tompkins · bg

14 · New Books · David Turner · br

15 · About the author: William Francis Nolan · · bg

Xenophile combined with the Fantasy Collector [Vol 3 No 9, #33, May/June 1977] (124pp, 8.5 x 11 in)

1 · Editorial · Nils Hardin · ed

2 · Popular Publications, a brief analysis · Nils Hardin · ar

3 · An interview with Harry Steeger · Nils Hardin · iv

20 · Mrs. Steeger recalls · Shirley Steeger · bg

21 · A checklist of Popular Publications titles 1930-1955 · Nils Hardin and George Hocutt · bi

25 · A pictorial history · · pi

38 · The old pulp writers · Will Murray · ar

87 · John Newton Howitt: American Artist/Illustrator · William Papalia · bg

108 · The pulps: day dreams for the masses · Marcus Duffield · ar

111 · The pulp library · Bob Sampson · cl

113 · Letters of lucubration · lc

116 · Pulp Artist Norman Saunders · Norman Saunders · bg

118 · Pulp Information Center· Nils Hardin · cl

Xenophile combined with the Fantasy Collector [Vol 3 No 10, #34, August/September 1977] (84pp, 8.5 x 11 in)

1 · Editorial · Nils Hardin · ed

Xenophile combined with the Fantasy Collector [Vol 3 No 10 (should have been 11), #35, October 1977] (92pp, 8.5 x 11 in)

1 · Editorial · Nils Hardin · ed

Xenophile combined with the Fantasy Collector [Vol 3 No 11 (should have been 12), #36, November 1977] (116pp, 8.5 x 11 in)

1 · Editorial · Nils Hardin · ed

R1 · Ray Bradbury: Fantasist, Visionary, Moralist · Nils Hardin · ar

R2 · Ray Bradbury Index [Part 3 of 3] · Donn Albright · bi

R8 · Bradbury's first book appearances · William F. Nolan · bi

R13 · The Trip · Donn Albright · ar

R15 · Hark! Is that you, Donn? … All cloaked in Glendale dark?  · William F. Nolan · pm

R16 · Burns and Allen, Fourth Spot  · Ray Bradbury · hu

R19 · The chronicles on stage: A review  · Bruce Francis · th

R21 · Bradbury in the pulps · William F. Nolan · bi

R25 · Lights! Camera! -- Inaction: Unfilmed film scripts of Ray Bradbury · Ben P. Indick · ar

R28 · Bradbury's textbook appearance 1955-1972· William F. Nolan · bi (reprinted from Presenting Moonshine, August 1974)

R30 · Uncle Ray · Philip A. Shreffler · ar

R32 · Third World Fantasycon L.A. 1977 · · pi

69 · Pulp Information Center· Nils Hardin · cl

70 · Letters of lucubration · lc

Xenophile combined with the Fantasy Collector [un-numbered issue, #37, December 1977] (72pp, 8.5 x 11 in)

1 · Editorial · Nils Hardin · ed

Xenophile combined with the Fantasy Collector [un-numbered issue, #38, March-April 1978] (156pp, 8.5 x 11 in)

1 · Editorial · Nils Hardin · ed

3 · Leigh Brackett ·  · ob (reprinted from the Youngstown Vindicator, Youngstown, Ohio, March 19, 1978)

5 · Hammett the writer · Joe Gores · ar

11 · Private eye in an evil time: Mark Sadler's Paul Shaw · Francis M. Nevins Jr. · ar

13 · Portrait of a tough guy (Raymond Chandler) · William F. Nolan · ar

19 · The not so literary digests · Robert Turner · ar

21 · Sam Spade: Lover · Peter Wolfe · ar

130 · The 11 best crime novels of them all · Michael Avallone · ar

131 · The pulp library · Bob Sampson · cl

134 · The Crimebusters/Mystery Magazine Index · Bob Sampson · bi

138 · The further adventures of Robert Leslie Bellem, or the Bellem-Adams connection · Stephen Mertz · ar

139 · Ed Noon's quickest caper, or Revenge: Italian style · R.T. Karlinchak · ar

139 · It was never that much fun · Hal Murray Bonnett · ar

142 · Pulp Information Center· Nils Hardin · cl

143 · Letters of lucubration · lc

Xenophile combined with the Fantasy Collector [un-numbered issue, #39, June 1978] (52pp, 8.5 x 11 in)

1 · Editorial · Nils Hardin · ed

Xenophile combined with the Fantasy Collector [un-numbered issue, #40, July 1978] (124pp, 8.5 x 11 in)

1 · Editorial · Nils Hardin · ed

2 · A remembrance of early pulp collecting and fandom: 1938-1943 · Virginia Combs (Nanek) Anderson; William Papalia · ar

85 · Letters of lucubration · lc

86 · Letters to Virginia Combs · ar

118 · Nanek today · Virginia Combs · ar

Xenophile combined with the Fantasy Collector [un-numbered issue, #41, January 1979] (64pp, 8.5 x 11 in)

1 · Editorial · Nils Hardin · ed

54 · Letters of lucubration · lc

Xenophile combined with the Fantasy Collector [un-numbered issue, #42, September-October 1979] (156pp, 8.5 x 11 in)

1 · Editorial · Nils Hardin · ed

5 · Nostalgia and the pulp collector · James W. Thompson · ar

7 · An interview with Phillip Jose Farmer · Philip A. Shreffler · iv

9 · How are the fallen mighty Dept,: Captain Satan · Dean A. Grennell · ar

11 · The Unknown Unknown · Will Murray · bi

17 · The Up-Dated Farmer or What you never knew about Richard Wentworth's genealogy and never thought to ask · These Ven · bi

23 · Walter Baumhofer - Artist: A pulp cover gallery ·  · pi

27 · Leigh Brackett · James Ellis · ar

126 · The pulp villains: Dr. Fuji (The Spider) · Nick Carr · ar

127 · Strange Tales: Masterpieces of the macabre · Bob Jones · ar

131 · The Pulp Library · Bob Sampson · cl

133 · L. Ron Hubbard, a living legend · Virgil Wilhite and Patricia Barnes Mintz · ar

137 · The Masked Rider · Tom Land · bi

139 · Solution for "X" (Secret Agent X)· These Ven · ar

147 · The "Common Practice" in Science Fiction: Aspect on the writing of Henry Juttner · Leon James · ar

Xenophile combined with the Fantasy Collector [un-numbered issue, #43,  January 1980] (24pp, 8.5 x 11 in)

3 · Editorial · Nils Hardin · ed

5 · Letters of lucubration · lc

Xenophile combined with the Fantasy Collector [un-numbered issue, #44,  March 1980] (36pp, 8.5 x 11 in)

1 · Editorial · Nils Hardin · ed

2 · Arkham House: the unpublished volumes · Gunter E. Swain · bi

31 · Nostalgia and the pulp collector · James W. Thompson · ar (reprint from Xenophile #42)

Five Stahr covers

On his birthday, a few of the artist Paul Stahr's cover paintings for Argosy.  High resolution photos made from multiple photos taken by me (click on the pictures to view in their full glory), the odd angles are to avoid reflections as much as possible. All paintings except the last one are from the astonishing collection of Doug Ellis, the man behind the Windy City pulp and paper convention in Chicago and covers from the FictionMags Index.

Stahr painted more than 300 covers for Argosy between 1923 and 1936. Of those, 212 were done between 1930 and 1934, when he had about 40 covers each year out of the 52 weekly issues. I don't think any other pulp artist comes close in terms of number of covers. Happy to be shown I'm wrong - leave a note in the comments.

Cover painting by Paul Stahr for Argosy December 8, 1928

Image courtesy

Cover painting by Paul Stahr for Argosy March 21, 1931
(Yes, the text is painted on)

Cover painting by Paul Stahr for Argosy December 10, 1932

Cover painting by Paul Stahr for Argosy January 27, 1934

Cover painting by Paul Stahr for Argosy May 16, 1931 (image courtesy Heritage Auctions)

Pulpfest 2018 - trip report

Recently returned from Pulpfest 2018, a 4 celebration of the pulp magazines. This year, the theme was World War 1. As usual, the convention had something for everyone. A fantastic job by the organizing committee - thanks to Jack Cullers and his family, Barry Traylor, Mike Chomko, Chuck Welch and many others.

The Panels

John Fleming Gould was the subject of a talk by his son. The artist did about 15,000 illustrations for the pulps in his career. I just about remembered to take a photo.

I didn't take a photo during David Saunder's excellent talk on the artists take on World War 1 in the pulps. I was too absorbed.

A new department - the art show. Some photos from it later.

And the biggest reason for going there, the Alladin's cave that is the dealers room

View of Pulpfest 2018 dealer room from the entrance

View of Pulpfest 2018 dealer room from the other end

I nearly missed my own talk on Leonard H. Nason thanks to a delayed dinner. However, i managed to get my food in time by bribing our waiter to meet my deadline. In doing so, I also managed to delay the rest of the people at dinner and they mostly missed the talk. Pity.

The dealers

Just a few of those present.

John Gunnison of Adventure House in front of the Great Wall of Pulps

Tony Tollin of Sanctum Books had a lot of high grade hero pulps for sale

Chet Williamson had some high grade pulps

Artwork

Craig Poole had some beauties for sale. Possible Underworld pulp cover - girl getting smoking gun from garter

Rafael De Soto sports pulp cover

As did Doug Ellis, who was off pulp hunting somewhere at the time this photo was taken

Treasures

One of the large (bedsheet) size issues of Rangeland Romances

True Gang Life magazine

Phantom Detective issue

Black Book Detective

Triple-X Western

Attendees - A couple of the usual suspects.

Walker Martin - the man who collects everything

And Digges La Touche, the man who has everything and can't remember where he put it :-)

Auction Highlights

Marathon sessions on Friday and Saturday for the auctioneers and bidders

Edd Cartier Christmas card

Rafael De Soto preliminary for recreation of Spider cover

Mark Wheatley's artwork for Swords Against the Moon Men