Author: Sai S

Henry Bassett Comstock – Author, Editor, Illustrator

Henry Bassett Comstock (1908 – 2003), the son of illustrator Enos Benjamin Comstock and Christine Frances Bassett, was an illustrator, journalist and editor of Munsey’s Railroad Magazine in the 1940s. This profile of him originally appeared in The Journal News, White Plains, New York, August 6, 1972. Locomotive tootles way into one man’s heartBY VIRGINIA… Continue reading Henry Bassett Comstock – Author, Editor, Illustrator

Off-beat Tales: Western Trails, November 1943

Last week, we took a look at the May 1938 issue of Western Trails. Let’s now look at the November 1943 issue. Cover by John Krank, which could be a pseudonym. The content structure looks similar to the earlier issue, two novelettes, seven short stories and one fact article. Western Trails [Vol. XXXVII No. 3,… Continue reading Off-beat Tales: Western Trails, November 1943

Off-beat Tales: Review of Western Trails, May 1938

Why read a second-tier title like Western Trails? Most of my western reading in the pulps has been from Street & Smith’s Western Story. I’ve also sampled Doubleday’s West, Popular Publications’ Dime Western, Star Western and a few issues of Clayton’s Cowboy Stories and Ace-High. Flirted with a few Ranch Romances. But the western was… Continue reading Off-beat Tales: Review of Western Trails, May 1938

Issue Review: Sea Stories, Feb 1922, the first issue

Following up on last week’ post on author reactions to Street & Smith’s all-reprint first issue of Sea Stories comes this review of the first issue. Let’s start with the mission statement, printed inside the issue: Sea Stories Magazine, the first number of which you hold in your hand, will deal with the adventures of… Continue reading Issue Review: Sea Stories, Feb 1922, the first issue

Right To Reprint Or Not? That Is The Question

The question of whether to reprint old stories or not was always a thorny one for pulp publishers. While many know about the so called “reprint menace” of the 1930s and 1940s when publishers like Harry Donenfeld and Martin Goodman pushed out pulps full of reprints without identifying them as such, few know of an… Continue reading Right To Reprint Or Not? That Is The Question

John Alan Maxwell, Illustrator of Romance

A few days ago, I was reading the first issue of Sea Stories and happened to glance through some of the covers of that magazine. The December 1925 issue, unattributed in the FictionMags Index, caught my eye. Ah! A signature on the bottom left of that cover. I squinted at it and tried to see… Continue reading John Alan Maxwell, Illustrator of Romance

The Thrilling World of Robert C. Blackmon: Man of Mystery

The depression, back in 1932, made writing sink-or-swim prop­osition for Robert C. Blackmon. Cast out on his own after losing a comfortable clerical position with the Atlantic Coast Line rail road, Blackmon swam and to­day he blesses the day his work terminated with the railroad. Today, eight years later, Black­mon is recognized as one of… Continue reading The Thrilling World of Robert C. Blackmon: Man of Mystery

Mastering Mystery: The Intriguing World of G. T. Fleming-Roberts

THE EDITORS of Better Homes and Gardens magazine unwittingly played right into the hands of G. T. Fleming-Roberts of Brown County, Indiana, when they printed a piece of advice on picking lilies a few months ago. Pull off the stamens, the magazine suggested, and the lilies won’t stain themselves—surely as innocent a tip on gardening… Continue reading Mastering Mystery: The Intriguing World of G. T. Fleming-Roberts

Harriette Ashbrook and the psychology of murder

Harriette Ashbrook, a lesser known detective writer, was born in Manhattan, Kansas in 1898 and came to Nebraska in the early 1900s. She studied at Vassar and Nebraska State University, then worked as a reporter for papers in Canada and the USA. Later she became a founding employee of the publisher Coward McCann, where she… Continue reading Harriette Ashbrook and the psychology of murder