Pulp Adventures #40

Pulp Adventures #40 is out from Bold Venture Press, dated Spring 2022. As always, we get a selection of new and classic pulp stories, with some non-fiction pieces. This is the first issue of 2022, and I hope they can get back to being quarterly. This starts their ninth year of publication. The cover for #40 is taken from an issue of "Best True Fact Detective" in 1962. So first up are the non-fiction pieces. We get an article from Michael Stradford, who has put out two works focused on model Steve Holland. This is a brief piece on cover artist Peter Caras, who is probably best known for starting The Avenger covers from Warner Books, and who has passed away. There is also a brief note on the very recent passing of artist James Bama. I hope we’ll get some kind of retrospective from the pulp world. The feature piece is a work by E. Hoffmann Price (1898-1988), who wrote for a lot of pulp genres and later wrote fantasy and sf books. I mainly know of him from his ties to H.P. Lovecraft. This piece, “Murder in Florida,” is a crime novelette originally from "Thrilling Detective" in 1940, and reprinted in "5 Detective Novels" in 1953 where it, including the interior artwork, was taken from. It stars his hard-boiled detective “Honest” John Carmody and has him in St. Augustine trying to earn the money to get to San Francisco. Here he agrees to protect a lonely Florida service station on Anastasia Island, where someone seems to be taking potshots at the owner-operator. Hopefully he can get to the bottom of things. Tied to this work is a non-fiction piece by David Goudsward that tells of Price’s trips to Florida, especially St. Augustine, that served as the location for another of his detective characters, and later recycled for this work. Carmody appeared in a series of stories and even got an original paperback novel in the ’50s. Wonder if Bold Venture should look into reprinting this and the rest of this character’s stories? For the rest of the classic pulp fiction, this issue we get: From British author John Burke (1922-2011) is a supernatural tale, “False Harmonic.” It’s about a composer who is trying to finish his final work. After he has passed. I would be interested in reading his occult detective, Dr. Caspian, mentioned in the sidebar. From another British author Ernest Dudley (1908-2006) is “The Frightened Client” from the Edgar Wallace Mystery Magazine in 1965. Who is guilty in a case of murder? The client or someone else? Another work from Charles Boeckman, “Peeping Tom’s Diary” is about a hotel built by a man who wants to be a peeping tom. And keeps a diary of what he sees. Sadly for him, others see the value in this. This is from Keyhole Magazine in 1960. From a third British author, Norman Firth, is a short tale of doublecross in “A Sound in the Doorway.” Or is it? George A. McDonald wrote some of The Phantom Detective stories and the Lynn Vickers series gives us “One Jill and a Creep” from Super-Detective in 1944. There is a problem in Bridge City with soldiers and sailors getting waylaid. So Major O’Rourke goes undercover to try to clean things up. “Sad Sam” is a baseball story by Joe Gill (1919-2006). It appeared as a text piece in an issue of Don Fortune Magazine, a comic book in August 1946. Not surprising, as Joe Gill was a long-time comic book writer, mainly for Charlton Comics. For New Pulp, we get: A Dr. Shadows story by Teel James Glenn, “Blood Debt,” is taken from the now out-of-print "The Manchurian Shadows", which I wish would be reprinted for others to read. Dr. Shadows is a pulp hero in the mold of characters like The Avenger, The Green Lama, and the like. This story takes place in Manchurian before WWII. There is a recent collection from Pro Se Press, and hopefully the older still will be brought back. Bold Venture has reprinted Glenn’s Skullmask and Maxi and Moxie works. From Guy Vollen is a science-fiction tale, “The Metal Menace,” set in the far future on another world with the dangers of robots and AI. “Misty Anderson’s Scissor Collection” by Patricia Crumpler is a fantasy story about a little girl who can turn invisible, and fairy folk who live in the woods. Or is that what it is? In David Bernard‘s “County Water,” you think it would be easy to get hooked up to county water. “Let Justice Be Done” is an interesting court case from Adam McFarlane. Will the guilty pay this time? It’s another great issue. Next one is promised for August, with stories by John Burke, Shelley Smith, and Roger Torrey. I’m looking forward to it, and hope we see four issues this year.