General Fiction - Argosy, Adventure, Short Stories, Blue Book & more 0

[comicjack]

On 4/8/2021 at 6:11 PM, Scrooge said:

Adventure, September 1, 1931 - Cover by V.E. Pyles

Great and colorful 

[Scrooge]

Here's another cover I like.

Blue Book, June, 1934 - Cover by H.J. Soulen

[OtherEric]

This small run has parts 3-7 (of 7) of The Chessmen of Mars.  It's not that I was actively seeking out the Burroughs issues, it's that most of the box my LCS got in was Burroughs issues.  They certainly have a higher appeal than the issues without any names I recognize, though!

I think the 3/11/22 issue does cross the line from "annoyingly out of register" to "fascinatingly out of register", at least.

[Scrooge]

Adventure, July 15, 1932 - Cover by Hubert Rogers

Here's another Rogers cover. I enjoy the striking red sail as the background, made to contrast with the green waters of the sea.

Not listed on the cover is a short World War story by Roland Dorgelès. This is unusual. Dorgelès is a French writer mostly publishing in France and in French. His first and best known work is Les croix de bois (Wooden crosses) (1919) who relates the daily life of soldiers during the War. Dorgelès served in the war starting 1914. The movie adaptation of the book premiered in France in March 1932, the year this story 'Garlic' appeared in Adventure.

Edited April 12, 2021 by Scrooge

[Scrooge]

Adventure, December 15, 1928 - Cover by V.E. Pyles

Here's another nice classic cover by Pyles (just wish it didn't miss that chip at top). The cover features a stallwart of Adventure: Gordon Young and one of his recurring characters: Don Everhard. Young's first story of Don Everhard dates back to 1917 in the pages of Adventure. He wrote 27 stories of Everhard for Adventure between 1917 and 1937 and one story for Short Stories in 1939.

[Scrooge]

Adventure, August 30, 1923 - Cover by H.C. Murphy

In the earlier years, covers of Adventure featured regularly the sea or the frontier so seafaring themed covers are common like this one or men braving the elements at the poles. During this time period when the magazine was published 3 times a month the page count was high. This is a thick pulp with 192 pages without counting the covers. The Great Depression would soon change both the frequency and the page count.

[Scrooge]

Adventure, December, 1937 - Cover by W.E. Luberoff

Fast forward 15 years, Adventure continues on though under a new publisher, Popular, on a monthly basis with a 144-page count here. Gordon Young is still on the cover and producing words for the magazine.

Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson who made a market with Adventure, regularly publishing stories for the magazine from 1927 to 1933, is now busy with his new endeavor and has already retitled New Comics as New Adventure Comics in January 1937 soon to become plain Adventure Comics whose early covers are similarly themed as those of Adventure. The Major will resume selling stories to the pulps by 1939 and the early 40's once his association with DC is over.

[Scrooge]

Adventure, August, 1934 - Cover by John Newton Howitt

Here's a cover by Howitt of greater fame for his Horror Stories and Spider covers.

Georges Surdez gets the solo cover credit and certainly Adventure liked his work. Mostly known for his stories of the Foreigh Legion, Surdez enters the field circa 1922 at age 22 and starts selling to Adventure that year. A 25+ year career ensues until his death in 1949. Over that span of time, Surdez's work appeared in no fewer than 112 issues of the magazine! In 1932, for example, he appeared in 7 of the 24 issues published that year. When not writing for Adventure, his work would appear in Argosy or Blue Book.

Here's a short bio from Blue Book (... assuming it's not embellished as Talbot Mundy's elsewhere proved to be) -

 

 

[Scrooge]

Argosy, March 28th, 1931 - Cover by Paul Stahr

Not only does Mob (a two-parter) start in this issue but Wheeler-Nicholson is also in the middle of a serial (6-parter) in this issue: The Battle of the Silent Men, starting the previous issue. This issue's cover though is more "classic".

[Scrooge]

Adventure, November 20th, 1924 - Cover by Neil O'Keefe

Peril at sea on the cover and another stalwart of the magazine headlining the list of authors inside: Harold Lamb.

There is a nice entry on Lamb in the Wikipedia so I'll let you check it out if interested - Harold Lamb - Wikipedia

Lamd broke into Adventure a few years before Surdez in 1917 and had his last story published therein in 1936. Over that span, he appeared in 81 issues, mostly in the 1920's with high watermarks of 9 in 1920 and 8 in 1926. His other markets was also Argosy and Blue Book but published quite a few in Short Stories.

The Novel is the entry by Lamb: The Sword of Honor (a story of John Paul Jones) while the Mundy is an installment of Om.

[FoggyNelson]

1924 you think it would be worth a small fortune‼️👍 almost 100 years old soon✅✅

[FoggyNelson]

On 4/16/2021 at 11:15 AM, Scrooge said:

Argosy, March 28th, 1931 - Cover by Paul Stahr

Not only does Mob (a two-parter) start in this issue but Wheeler-Nicholson is also in the middle of a serial (6-parter) in this issue: The Battle of the Silent Men, starting the previous issue. This issue's cover though is more "classic".

Great  specter of death. Cover‼️👍

[Scrooge]

13 hours ago, FoggyNelson said:

almost 100 years old soon

Adventure, December 20th, 1921 - Cover by Colcord Heurlin

I backed it up to match that 100 year mark  

First on the list of authors is J. Allan Dunn behind a cover by Heurlin, both of whose lives are interesting.

You can read about Heurlin and his love of Alaska from David Saunders - Catalog (pulpartists.com)

and the adventurous life of Dunn at Pulp Flakes - Pulp Flakes: J. Allan Dunn - Pulp author, Novelist, Explorer, Sailor

As much as Surdez wrote about Legion stories taking place in the areas he visited, so did Dunn with stories of the South Seas and pirates.

This issue contains one of his noted stories: Barehanded Castaways, mentioned in the comments of the link above and his Wikipedia entry.

Though overall Dunn was more prolific than Lamb or Surdez, he appeared in fewer issues of Adventure. He started there earlier than Lamb, with his first two stories appearing in 1914 and his last in 1934. However, his output for Adventure dropped off by 1925 by which time you are more likely to find his work in Complete Story, Argosy and Short Stories. Nevertheless, Dunn's work appeared in 70 issues of Adventure.

 

[FoggyNelson]

Hard to believe those Argosy almost 100 years old☝️

[Scrooge]

Adventure, May 23rd, 1926 - Cover by Colcord Heurlin

Here's another Colcord Heurlin cover, though strangely it is credited to R.A. Ewing inside. An uncharacteristic mistake.

One highlighted author on the cover is one we already saw on the cover of May 1st, 1931 posted earlier; it's Arthur O. Friel who had a jungle novelette in that issue: "Bush Devils."

In this issue, he pens: The Old Varmint.

Friel's bio at Pulp Flakes is located here - Pulp Flakes: Arthur O. Friel

Unlike Surdez or Dunn, Friel did not travel in his youth. Rather it is later once a writer that he adventures to South America where now a good number of his stories are set. Aside from Adventure, Friel made a market at Short Stories. In total, over a 20-year period, from 1919 to 1939, Friel appeared in 90 issues of Adventure. After just 3 pieces printed in 1919, he placed 11 stories in 1920 and another 11 in 1921!

 

[Scrooge]

Adventure, November 1938 - Cover by John Newton Howitt

The cover is a far cry from Heurlin's work from the '20's. I understand that the look and orientation of the magazine is dictated by the editor but the tonal change bears true nevertheless. Adventure in the early run was the unknown and untamed nature. By 1938, Adventure and its challenge is man, as a menace. Most covers are now focused on human opposition rather than the challenge of nature. Possibly a reason why most believe the earlier period is superior.

Arthur O. Friel contributes to the issue but it's the Scot Gordon MacCreagh who gets first billing with his leading short story: A Man to kill.

MacCreagh's bio at Pulp Flakes is located here - Pulp Flakes: Gordon MacCreagh – Adventurer, Explorer, Big game hunter, Writer

MacCreagh like Dunn did travel extensively (to the extent we can believe his early life accounts (see discussion at Pulp Flakes)) and for sure participated in well known and documented expeditions. This gave him exactly the correct background for his writing.

In total, MacCreagh appeared in 81 issues of Adventure over a 40-year period! from 1913 to 1952 and that's without counting the articles he published about his expedition in 1927/1928. His publication appearances are checkered by his travels and service so, for example, no stories are published in 1929 & 1930 but he is there through the 1930's. He disappears in the late 1940's but has a final story in 1952. Adventure was the main outlet for MacCreagh with a smattering at Argosy and Short Stories and he authored several books about his travels.

[FoggyNelson]

Adventure above is sweet‼️😷

[Scrooge]

Adventure, April 1st, 1931 - Cover by Gerald C. Delano

Behind the cover by Delano, we find Bedford-Jones' 'O'Brien, Buccaneer'. This is the first of 6 short stories featuring James O'Brien from 1931 / 1932.

Bedford-Jones' name is ubiquitous in pulps of that era. The so-called King of the Pulps was prolific and even though Adventure was not his primary market (Blue Book was), he still managed to appear in 84 issues of Adventure from 1912 to 1944. Bedford-Jones' work in Adventure really became common place in 1920 but had his highest watermark years later in the late '30's: 1937 / 1938 / 1940.

Bedford-Jones' quick bio in Wikipedia - H. Bedford-Jones - Wikipedia

 

[Scrooge]

Adventure, May 1937 - Cover by Hubert Rogers

Given how many issues the authors in the previous posts appeared in, it's no surprise that they would bunch up and fill up most of some later issues.

Flipping through books, I pulled this one where Surdez, MacCreagh and Bedford-Jones all share the cover credits. The cover illustration is unrelated to any of those stories (I don't believe it is related to any story inside, in fact).

[Scrooge]

Argosy, June 27th, 1931 - Cover by Robert A. Graef

Switching a bit to find some of the Adventure regulars elsewhere, we find J. Allan Dunn in this issue of Argosy. This issue happens to start the second Tama serial whose first set I posted earlier in the thread.