After a run of six issues, Ron Hanna revamped his Startling Stories series for volume 2.
William Carney Jr., co-creator and co-author of The Scarlet Shroud, took over as editor and designer for this run of SS. This time the magazine would be produced by Wild Cat Books through Amazon’s CreateSpace, and the format, both physical and editorial, would change. More so than volume 1, volume 2 would be a mix of new and old pulp sf.
Volume 2 ran eight issues from 2008 to 2012, and were 7-inches by 10-inches in size and square-bound, and the first four issues ran around 200 pages, then dropped to about 140-150 pages, much longer than the prior volume. The only consistent feature of this volume was Ron Wilber‘s sexy sf comic strip, Saucy Blaine and “Retro-Reviews,” though both did not appear in every issue.
Vol. 2, No. 1 (Fall 2008) kicks off this new version with a mixture of new and old, in more ways then one. Cover featured is a reprint of the classic The Girl in the Golden Atom by Ray Cummings. For new stories, we get a pair of horror tales by S. Clayton Rhodes and Cari Reese. Reprinted from the prior run of Startling Stories is Wayne Skiver‘s first Traveler story. I think the hope was to relaunch this as a series for the new SS, but around this time Skiver went off to start his own publishing company, Age of Adventure, before leaving the New Pulp world. There is an overview and portfolio of the artwork of Ver Curtiss. He was doing quite a bit of artwork at the time, but I don’t recall seeing anything from him in recent years. We also get the first Saucy Blaine story, where we learn how she gains her animal companion, Zeech. For Retro-Review, K.G. McAbee takes a look at Weird Tales cover artist Margaret Brundage.
Vol. 2, No. 2 (Spring 2009) has three classic sf reprints from Murray Leinster (“Operation: Outer Space”), H. Beam Piper (“Police Operation”), and Otis Adelbert Kline (“Stolen Centuries”). We get five new stories this time. As a memorial for classic pulp artist Edd Cartier, who had recently passed away, we get a portfolio of his interior illustration from the original Startling Stories. And editor Carney provides a detailed overview of the original Startling Stories, including showing the covers for every issue along with a listing of stories and authors in each issue.
Vol. 2, No. 3 (Winter 2010) has five(!) classic sf reprints. Another 5 new stories are also included. We also get a reprint of a classic Tom Corbett, Space Cadet comicbook story. Retro Reviews this issue is actually a trio of short reviews. One looks at classic 50’s British sf films, another at classic sf movies, and the third at a recent comicbook adaption of King of the Rocketmen serial.
Vol. 2, No. 4 (Summer 2010) has a special tribute to artist Frank Frazetta. For reprints, we get Empire by Clifford D. Simak and Manly Wade Wellman‘s “The Devil’s Asteroid,” along with an Al Williamson comic story from Forbidden Worlds. We get five new stories from K.G. McAbee, S. Clayton Rhodes, and Gerald W. Page & James Burge.
Vol. 2, No. 5 (Fall 2010) gives us another trio of reprints including “Dawn of Flame” by Stanley G. Weinbaum, E.E. “Doc” Smith‘s “Vortex Blasters,” and another tale by H. Beam Piper. A modern reprint is “Cask of Ages” from Wm. Michael Mott & Gerald W. Page. Ron Hanna contributes a new story, along with tales by Carleton Grindle and John Casey & Jack Nemo. We also get a reprint of a Wally Wood comicbook story along with a portfolio of pulp works by Ron Wilber.
Vol. 2, No. 6 (Winter 2011) features two classic reprints that actually kick off a pair of series. John W. Campbell Jr.‘s “The Black Star Passes is the first in the series of scientist-astronauts Arcot, Morey, and Wade. This novel was published in three parts before being collected in book form. This is the complete three-part novel. Leonaur has reprinted the entire AMW series in one volume. From Neil R. Jones, we get “The Jameson Satellite,” the first of the long-running Professor Jameson series, of which only a few have been collected in book form (and apparently a few stories haven’t been published!). Armchair Fiction is currently reprinting the existing book collections, but no work on the uncollected stories. The final classic tale is “Asru, Willik & the Wolf” by Gerald W. Page, about a space-spider joining with two humans. The only new story this time is K.G. McAbee’s “Time is of the Essence.” Round out this issue is a Retro-Review on the Batman movies that leaves out the old Batman serials.
Vol. 2, No. 7 (Fall 2012) returned after nine months(!) with an all-reprint issue. No Saucy Blaine, so the only new item was the Retro-Review on Marvel Comic’s b/w magazine Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction. Included in this issue were George O. Smith‘s novel “Pattern for Conquest,” which appeared in the original Startling Stories in 1948. Also included are a couple of comicbook reprints with art by Steve Ditko from Charlton’s Outer Space.
Vol. 2, No. 8 (Summer 2012) kicks off with H. Beam Piper’s “Null-ABC,” which uses the cover from the paperback reprint from Ace as Crisis in 2140. Other classic reprints include Gerald W. Page’s first story, “The Happy Man,” and Clifford Ball‘s “The Goddess Awakes.” New stories include Martin Powell‘s prequel to Dracula, “The Evil of Dracula” and Chris Carney’s superhero tale “An Incident at Plenivici.” We get another golden age comicbook reprint with art by Carmine Infantino.
Certainly, more issues were planned, as we get a promise of what was coming in future volumes. Not sure what happened to prevent this or what happened to any new stories planned for the next volume. It appears that the final issue was the last work published by Wild Cat Books.
While Wild Cat Books is pretty much defunct, all eight issues of volume 2 are still available from Amazon, but who knows how long, so would recommend getting them while you can.
