Fanzine focus: ‘Pulpdom’ #1-10

I previously posted on the long-running pulp fanzine Pulpdom. At the time I didn’t have access to many of the issues to do the more in-depth reviews I prefer. I have been able to obtain some recently, so now can do the kind of articles I’d prefer. This will be the first of several articles looking into the contents of fanzine itself.

A little recap, Pulpdom has a distinguished history that goes back many, many years under the editorship of Camille “Caz” Cazedessus. It started as ERB-dom in 1960, with Caz and Al Guillory Jr. as the editors and publishers. Focused on Edgar Rice Burroughs, it ran for several years until ending publication in 1976 with #89.

Then it restarted as The Fantasy Collector with #201 in December 1988, renamed The Fantastic Collector with #228, and then re-incorporated as ERB-dom #248 (double-billed as The Fantastic Collector #248/ERB-dom #90). The last issue was The Fantastic Collector #262/ERB-dom #104 in November 1996.

In January 1997, the first issue of Pulpdom appeared, billed as the “son of ERB-dom.” It continued reprinting classic fantastic stories from various early pulps such as Argosy, All-Story, and Blue Book, along with running articles, reviews, and artwork, with a particular focus on the works of Burroughs. Many of the longer reprints would run anywhere from two to a dozen issues. The format of the zine was 8.5- by 11-inches, saddle stitched, with 28 pages including the covers. It also continued The Fantastic Collector as an adzine within it.

#1 (January 1997) gives us a John Carter cover, which ties to the reprint of the first Carter novel, “Under the Moons of Mars,” part three of five, originally from The All-Story (April 1912). We also have A. Merritt‘s “The Metal Emperor,” part two of 11, from Science and Invention (November 1927), which is a revised and abridged version of “The Metal Monster,” which originally appeared in Argosy All-Story Weekly in 1920. And finally, “In the Land of To-Morrow,” part three of five, by Epes W. Sargent (1872-1938), which appeared in The Ocean (December 1907).

For non-fiction, we get a letter by Al Lybeck on A. Merritt that discusses “The Metal Monster” and why he feels it and not “The Moon Pool” is Merritt’s first novel. And an article by J.G. Huckenpohler on possible sources for Burroughs’ “The Cave Girl.”

#2 (March 1997) has a Paul McCall cover for “A Celestial Visitant,” which may be a candidate for the earliest American science-fiction pulp story. By Amelia Shackleford, it appeared in The St. Louis Illustrated Magazine (November 1880). It tells of a man who ascended in a balloon and encountered something. The three other series continue.

For non-fiction, Gary Lovisi provides #38 in a column “The Paperback Collector,” this one being part two of “Uncommon Titles” in the “World Fantasy Classics” series of digests in the U.K. in 1950/51. And there is a reprint from Mike Chomko‘s Purple Prose on Lyle Hickman of Pulp Era fanzine.

#3 (April 1997) has an interesting photo cover of a jungle man that ties to an article by Brian McMillan that looks at The Island of Regeneration (1909), a Robinsonade book that may be another influence on Burroughs. The photo comes from a “photo play” based on the book. The story is about a woman who is shipwrecked on an island, where she finds a jungle man who had grown up alone on the island. It was very popular at the time, going through several printings. We get another reprint from Purple Prose, this time looking at discovering Doc Savage from the Bantam paperbacks.

The Burroughs and Merritt series continues, while one concludes this issue.

#4 (May 1997) Under a Frank R. Paul cover from Science & Invention in 1922, we have “The Man Who Turned Wolf” by Lyndon Orr from The Scrap Book (August 1909), along with clips from other issues of The Scrap Book. We continue with the Burroughs and Merritt serials. Orr’s work is a short article that relates various tales of werewolves.

For non-fiction we get another article from Purple Prose which focuses on Operator #5, and #39 in Lovisi’s “Paperback Collector” column that looks at a rare book on Superman from 1943. And we get part of a work-in-progress bibliography of H. Bedford-Jones by Caz. This part focuses on books by HB-J. Five of the seven covers from Strange Tales are presented.

#5 (July 1997) has another Frank R. Paul cover. We continue with the Burroughs and Merritt serials. We get an article by Al Lybeck on author Joel Townsley Rogers, starting with a look at his popular thriller The Red Right Hand. Rounding out the issue is another article from Purple Prose focusing on editor Sam Moskowitz, and #40 in Lovisi’s “Paperback Collector” column, this time on his Gryphon Books’ SF Re-Discovery Series — now sadly hard to find.

#6 (September 1997) has another John Carter cover, with a Paul McCall back cover. In addition to the Burroughs and Merritt serials, we get “The Quetzal” by Ethel Watts Mumford from Ainslee’s Magazine (April 1916). This is an interesting story of reincarnation and lost worlds.

For non-fiction, we get a review of “As It Is Written,” an unpublished pulp work that finally came out in book form and was attributed to Clark Ashton Smith. This article questions that, and I think it’s still an open question. I recall reading articles on this in other fanzines at the time. We also get another in Lovisi’s column, “Paperback Collector” looking at I Spy book tie-ins, and another reprinted article by Mike Chomko, now under the column name of “The Pulp Wire,” focused on Pulpcon 26.

#7 (October 1997) features yet another John Carter cover, and includees the conclusion of the Burroughs serial, while Merritt’s continues.

The rest of the issue has several non-fiction works. We have a reprint from Argosy in February 1908. This is a long editorial work called “The Argosy Log-Book.” Lovisi’s “Paperback Collector” is #42 on early Burroughs paperbacks. Chomko provides an article on pulp collector Fred Cook, who published The Bronze Shadows fanzine for fifteen issues and had recently passed away.

#8 (November 1997) includes an article by Sarkis Atamian on his recent book The Origin of Tarzan. He feels that two early book Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa (1862) by Paul Du Chaillu and Heroes of the Dark Continent (1890) by J.W. Buel were the real inspirations for Burroughs. And we get some excerpts from both books. I’ve checked, and his book is still available through Amazon.

Other non-fiction includes a review by Jerry Page on the recent reprint of “Tarzan of the Apes” in High Adventure. Lovisi’s “Paperback Collector” #43 is on the Burroughs paperback revival of the 1960s by Ace and Ballantine.

We get the first of a two-part reprint of Epes Sargent’s Beyond the Banyans from The All-Story Magazine (October 1909), which is a jungle adventure set in Africa. And we continue with Merritt’s serial. So it’s almost an “all Burroughs” issue.

#9 (December 1997) focuses on pulp author Fred MacIsaac (1886-1939) with an article by Al Lybeck. We get several excerpts from MacIsaac’s works, including pulp covers that featured him, as well as a bibliography of his works. Sadly, he committed suicide at age 53. Also, sadly, we don’t get a reprint of one of his stories. In checking, I see that Steeger Books (formerly Altus Press) has reprinted some of his works.

“Paperback Collector” #44 looks at a rare edition of The Tarzan Twins, and we get reviews of two pulp-art books: Robert Lesser‘s Pulp Art and Vincent Di Fate‘s Infinite Worlds.

Sargent’s story finishes the issue, and Merritt’s serial continues.

#10 (February 1998) has a cover from The Argosy, appropriate with the focus on this first pulp magazine from Frank Munsey. We get an article on Munsey, a look at the early Argosy, including when it was the Golden Argosy, which includes covers and sample pages. Another article looks at the early authors in The Argosy, and we get the start of an index of The Argosy. We also get a reprint by Munsey himself on two authors: William T. Adams and Horatio Alger Jr. And we get a review of The White King of Africa (1894) by William Murray Gordon, who contributed several series in the early years of The Argosy.

We also get a follow-on article with more info on Fred MacIsaac from Victor Berch. “Paperback Collector” #45 looks at the new “Jungle Series” from Lovisi’s Gryphon Books.

For fiction we finish the Merritt serial and have “The Alien Thread” by Charles H. Palmer from Munsey’s Magazine (December 1892).

That wraps up the first 10 issues. A lot of good stuff here. I will have an article on the next 10 soon.

If you wish to get copies of these issues, you can find them but they can be a bit pricey. Caz sells PDFs of them from his website, which is probably your best bet.