Pat Calhoun

Alex gets the cover story and 6 pgs (had 5 in #1)

Terror at Night is 1947 and the Dunsany story is actually a crime yarn- but a great one 'The Two Bottles of Relish'.

Amazing Adventures #1 (1950) is double-cool with one of the few (or only) RG Jones covers plus one of the few (another next ish!) sf yarns illo'ed by Schomburg.

ok- more specific- in the early 1970s I collected PB SF short story anthologies- vintage and current. It was a great way to read a lot of of 1930s through 1950s material (it was fun and cheap) and I stress again 'history' records the novels more clearly but perhaps the greatest triumph of that era's sf (and fantasy) were shorts and novelettes...

my dad was pretty old when I was born. and with you since you're interested as much in the pulps themselves as the stories it's a win-win. the one good thing about 'pure' story is it takes it for the most part out of the economic arena as much of the best writing is available in inexpensive formats. But I'm all for having pretty pictures to go along (this is a comics forum), plus the history you get with old mags and books- not to mention the aroma...

ok- am third gen SF fan- my dad read books like The Messiah of the Cylinder back when they came out in the 19-teens (watch BZ have first- i have the Hyperion reprint with Coll illos), my half-bro boasted of buying every ish of Astounding off the stands from #1 (1930) up. too bad he didn't save um till I wised him up in early '60s and started going over to San Diego and buying back issues for a nickel filling '47-'59. the Slaves of Sleep was a Xmas gift from dad to bro in 1956. the inscription reads (remember the title) 'From one of the slaves to the Champ! Much Love - Yuletide 1956'. have read 'Slaves' fun (Typewriter In the Sky is better) but not 'Masters'. Am concerned that it wasn't reprinted. Scrooge please note- while reading raw (original 'pulp' pub) is great the hardback and PB reprint process has also served as a filter to hopefully separate wheat from chaff- remember Sturgeon's Law. So reading some authors in 'reprint' then going out to get originals of one's you like may be another avenue... as to when the head of main character got torn off DJ I could swear I remember it whole from childhood... at any rate thanks to Bob Madle for color copy behind it... + Elron wrote a SF novel in 1939 (Astounding) Final Blackout- that had the USA as techno bad guy while the rest of the world lived in a depressed and 'backward' future. seems like a gutsy thought for during the run-up to WW2...

oh yeah- Lao is unique and the Alter (says copyright 1966 Fawcett inside) is one of many early-mid '60s books that almost pastiches the fifties but still packs a good wallop taken straight... The R Davies would not disappoint. Plus wanted to post this while Elron, and Fantastic Adventures are still hot topics and Robert Gibson Jones artist of both the Sturgeon ish and this. will post my Shasta 'Slaves of Sleep' DJ later- my copy has a great story goes with it... plus request for big fat scan of Dreaming Jewels cover- backgrounds full of monsters each with charming monsternalities are up there...

Carny books part 2: tho BZ has thought I'd show the folks first pb Nightmare Alley since such super example of James Avati's work... World of Wonders cover not much but what a book! last of trilogy (only one I read) a little literary but very approachable and entertaining- so phantasmagorical it's hard to remember what happened other than that it was sensational!!!! (read long time ago...) I also thought it proper to show my first ed of Something Wicked in case Ray is a 'lurker' on the boards!

getting late but here's these- note first 2 are F Brown (is BC of Dead Ringer). Carny Kill later, lighter, more derivative- still fun! more to come?

you got it. I like little plants and animals because I think the connection with nature 'taps into our roots' so to speak... to have the lizard's tongue and the submerged eye- oh my!

interesting footnote- AE helped Elron in early days of scientology...which premiered in Astounding!!!...

those are also the years that S&S-/-Campbell published sister mag Unknown. they ran a bunch a fine fantasy. don't have any to show but these two classics ran in early '40s ishes. the Elron is exquisite fun- as the hero swordfights on deck of pirate ship he can hear the typewriter in the sky as the author writes the scene. The VanV also killer- hero has amnesia pg 1 and is a superman by pg 6 -go Alfie!! both these are UK eds...

bit of a crossover. Fearn wrote a lot for Astounding in 1930s and started this series in 1950s through many novels... (if she's not a comic character she should be...)

"It's definitely the outstanding Frankenstein image outside of Briefer's work. " sorry- can't resist. Spoon & I like this one

cool Fawcett crossover PB graphic nov- they quit comics 'cause they were making more $ selling pb's for a quarter than comics for a dime...

cheated & used GCD but I do have this- mine is nicer... (I think they used this to clear gory inventory before code)

if you want to read 'raw' (and unlike CGC I use it to mean original appearance) sometimes Startling is hard to beat. 3/52 superb Kuttner sci-fantasy short novel illustrated by Finlay...

these were probably hard to see in the group shot. Please read the Sturgeon. I have 5 other great carny novels lined up (Nightmare Alley by William Gresham is one)!

speaking of great reads (I think Scrooge was...) and bookcases found pic of part of another case- old pb's lean more towards crime than SF but Cornell Woolrich (aka William Irish) is spooky and super enough to transcend genre... Hitch got 'Rear Window' from him... His 'black' books, especially, The Bride Wore Black, The Black Path of Fear, The Black Angel, and Rendezvous in Black are wonderful as is Phantom Lady + many great short stories... & Happy Birthday Bill !!!!! ps - the 'Dr Solar' on top was inscribed and sent to me by Paul S Newman after the interview I did with him in CBM paved the way to coming to Comicon and getting award...

don't have this- found Brit online US cov same 1950-ish- maybe Scrooge should get & read this for that good yarn straight from pulp feel....

BZ- as latecomer to board I'll say 'your' thread is the only one I'm reading whole- have done 1-310 & 1040-up- Love it! cheers, Pat

thief of bagdad is one of few facsimile djs (only one in pic)