I'll pound you to a "Pulp" if you don't show off yours! 23 23

[ArkhamCastle]

The painting is amazing.

The Captain Future run is awesome.

[sacentaur]

Reading copy of A. E. van Vogt’s first published sci-fI story Black Destroyer. Along with a follow-up yarn in the 12/39 issue, the combined plot was so similar to the 1979 classic film Alien that the author sued 20th Century Fox and won an out of court settlement.

This issue also contains Isaac Asimov’s first appearance (Trends) in Astounding, plus a story by C. L. Moore too. What an issue!

[RedFury]

Wow!  I've never read Black Destroyer, but now I want to!

I have read the Moore story, Greater Than Gods, and it's a good 'un.  It's about a scientist trying to decide which woman to marry, and the ramifications each union will have on the future, not just of his life, but of civilization itself.

[N e r V]

On 4/14/2020 at 8:13 AM, sacentaur said:

Reading copy of A. E. van Vogt’s first published sci-fI story Black Destroyer. Along with a follow-up yarn in the 12/39 issue, the combined plot was so similar to the 1979 classic film Alien that the author sued 20th Century Fox and won an out of court settlement.

This issue also contains Isaac Asimov’s first appearance (Trends) in Astounding, plus a story by C. L. Moore too. What an issue!

That’s always been a great pulp issue to own. I love that cover besides having solid contents inside. Not pricey but I’m still in search of a higher graded copy myself. It’s got some nice interiors too.

 

My set will include these as well. The hardcover reprint and my introduction to the Black Destroyer story via Marvel comics.

 

There’s some debate but I’m in the camp that believes this was the beginning of the golden age of science fiction with this issue and what followed next...

[detective35]

27 minutes ago, N e r V said:

That’s always been a great pulp issue to own. I love that cover besides having solid contents inside. Not pricey but I’m still in search of a higher graded copy myself. It’s got some nice interiors too.

 

My set will include these as well. The hardcover reprint and my introduction to the Black Destroyer story via Marvel comics.

 

There’s some debate but I’m in the camp that believes this was the beginning of the golden age of science fiction with this issue and what followed next...

 

Besides having a great cover, it has fabulous interior illustrations!

[OtherEric]

5 hours ago, N e r V said:

That’s always been a great pulp issue to own. I love that cover besides having solid contents inside. Not pricey but I’m still in search of a higher graded copy myself. It’s got some nice interiors too.

 

My set will include these as well. The hardcover reprint and my introduction to the Black Destroyer story via Marvel comics.

 

There’s some debate but I’m in the camp that believes this was the beginning of the golden age of science fiction with this issue and what followed next...

Agreed that this is the starting point of the Golden Age of SF... with the note that it's a much less solid line than, say Action #1 starting the Golden Age of Comics.  But the rules definitely changed with this issue and the two immediate followups.  The August issue has the first Heinlein story, and the September issue (which I don't yet have) has Theodore Sturgeon's first story.  3 A-list writers debuting in 3 consecutive issues, with Asimov's first story in Astounding (third overall) as a bonus, is just an insane run of talent showing up.

[Ricksneatstuff]

Had some time with Spicy Adventure today

 

[Comical Situations]

Nice spice @Ricksneatstuff did you practice social distancing with them? 

[Ricksneatstuff]

10 minutes ago, Comical Situations said:

Nice spice @Ricksneatstuff did you practice social distancing with them? 

Sadly, because I have had lifelong chronic bronchitis I have to keep some level of social distancing from all old paper. 
 

As a kid I collected first edition books and coins. I had the 1861 Pilgrim’s Progress and first edition Great Expectations among others but I had reactions to that paper. 

 

Coins were easier for me but when I was 12 someone broke into our house and stole the collection that my grandfather gave me.  

[Comical Situations]

That's very sad Rick, I'm sorry to hear that.  There's no accounting for the tastelessness of some people.  It's bad enough when a collection is stolen, let alone when it's a family heirloom. 

[sacentaur]

I needed some Pepto Bismol after that Spicy blast! 🌶 🌶 

[RedFury]

Great Spicy's Rick!

I love how E. Hoffmann Price proudly used his real name in the Spicys, but others hid behind pseudonyms.  

Justin Case = Hugh B. Cave.  He said he came up with "Case" because it was so close to Cave, and then realized how funny it would be if he used "Justin".

Lew Merrill = Victor Rousseau, which itself was a pseudonym for Victor Rousseau Emanuel.  I can't tell you how many pulps I've opened from all different eras and genres to find Rousseau listed in the TOC.

All three of those guys were tremendous writers who cranked out hundreds of published pulps stories each.  Cave alone is estimated to have over 800.  Price was still writing into the 1980s and Cave into the 2000s.  And I'm finishing a book right now that Rousseau wrote in 1914.  It's just amazing that these three powerhouse writers all wrote for the Spicys.  It was a paycheck, I guess! 

And here's one more, Sam Walser, better known as Robert E. Howard. 

[sacentaur]

Doing some Spring cleaning in the garage and came upon these in a box that I probably haven’t looked at in decades. I do remember purchasing the trio of digest-sized books for $100, but so long ago that I can’t remember when.

First time that these stories were back in print after their original appearance in Weird Tales?

No DJ, only good condition but they are 1st editions and it was such a pleasant surprise to stumble across them. 

[RedFury]

Nice, Steve!  If you wanted to make them look great on your shelf, dustjackets.com has facsimile dust jackets available for those at $22 a piece.

Yes, I think this is the first reprinting of most of those Conan stories since their initial appearances in Weird Tales.  However, several of the stories were reprinted in Skull-Face and Others (Arkham House, 1946) a few years before these Gnome Press editions.

There were 17 Conan stories in Weird Tales.  I see at least three stories in the Gnome Press editions that had never been in Weird Tales. 

• The Frost Giant's Daughter was first published in a pamphlet called The Fantasy Fan in 1934
• The God in the Bowl was first published in Space Science Fiction in 1952, the same year the Gnome book was released. 
• The Treasure of Tranicos is a re-written version of The Black Stranger, which was first published in 1953.

I also see a few Kull stories are included in The Coming of Conan.  That's OK.  The very first Conan story, The Phoenix on the Sword, was originally a Kull story before Howard re-worked it.

[OtherEric]

I think the reprints of A Witch Shall Be Born and Queen of the Black Coast in Avon Fantasy Reader predate the Gnome editions.  I’ll post covers when I get home if nobody beats me to it.   But most of them are first reprintings. Great books, even without the jackets!

[sacentaur]

26 minutes ago, RedFury said:

Nice, Steve!  If you wanted to make them look great on your shelf, dustjackets.com has facsimile dust jackets available for those at $22 a piece.

There were 17 Conan stories in Weird Tales.  I see at least three stories in the Gnome Press editions that had never been in Weird Tales. 

• The Frost Giant's Daughter was first published in a pamphlet called The Fantasy Fan in 1934

Todd, thanks for the DJ reproduction link, I’ll check it out.

The Frost Giant’s Daughter appeared in The Fantasy Fan (3/34) as “Gods of the North”, with Conan being called “Amra”. The story had been rejected by Weird Tales (I don’t know why), so it appeared in TFF instead.

As we’ve discussed before, issues of The Fantasy Fan are brutally tough to locate and I don’t have the issue in question (which is vol. 1 #7). I’ve been trying to put together a full set of TFF for a long time, no luck.

[RedFury]

28 minutes ago, sacentaur said:

Todd, thanks for the DJ reproduction link, I’ll check it out.

The Frost Giant’s Daughter appeared in The Fantasy Fan (3/34) as “Gods of the North”, with Conan being called “Amra”. The story had been rejected by Weird Tales (I don’t know why), so it appeared in TFF instead.

As we’ve discussed before, issues of The Fantasy Fan are brutally tough to locate and I don’t have the issue in question (which is vol. 1 #7). I’ve been trying to put together a full set of TFF for a long time, no luck.

Yep!  The Fantasy Fan is tough, and I agree, I have NO IDEA why Wright would have rejected that story. 

I've got a few of the similar Phantagraph issues, with at least one part of Howard's The Hyborean Age, but I'd have to check to see exactly what I have.

[sacentaur]

Speaking of The Fantasy Fan, its editor/publisher Charles Derwin Hornig was such an interesting fellow. He started the fanzine at age 17, he became editor of Hugo Gernsback’s Wonder Stories while still in high school, and eventually went on to win the first Fandom Hall of Fame award in 1988.

Hornig was a conscientious objector who went AWOL during WWII, ending up in prison after his capture.

The first picture below has Hornig on the left, Jack Binder in the middle, and Jack Darrow on the right in a humorous image circa 1934 (contemporaneous with TFF’s publication). The second picture below also has Hornig at the left attending World Con in 1988. He died in 1999 at the age of 83.

Edited April 16, 2020 by sacentaur

[telerites]

[OtherEric]

And here are those Avon Fantasy Reader covers I mentioned:

@RedFury, thank you for that Dust Jacket link as well.  I definitely have some books where I might use them...