I recently picked up a slim volume in Steeger Books‘ H. Bedford-Jones Library: Gimlet Eye Gunn. This reprints a novelette that first saw print in Short Stories in March 25, 1945, and was later reprinted in Weird Tales in 1951. The cover from Short Stories was reprinted as the cover artwork, and it’s by Lee Brown Coye, which I was surprised as I had forgotten he had done pulp covers. I am more aware of his covers for Arkham House books.
H. Bedford-Jones (1887-1949) actually had a few stories in Weird Tales, though this story was not original.
This story is set during WWII and is about the strange adventures of tailgunner Pete Larsen on a small island in the South Pacific. His bomber is hit, killing the pilots and rest of the crew, and going down. Larsen is able to spot a small island and head there, getting out as it goes down. Washing ashore with just his survival gear and an inflattable boat, Larsen explores the island.
He finds a small native village, with huts, chickens, and pigs. But totally deserted. Near a small cave in one of the peaks on the island, he finds a mummy/skeleton. And it seems the island is haunted by “Gimlet Eye Gunn,” who is claimed to be a pirate of some sort. It’s his mummy that Larsen found.
The next day, Larsen is joined by a young white woman who had escaped a Japanese concentration camp and came to the island to find a Dr. Bowe, a surgeon, as she needs her appendix taken out. But Larsen hasn’t seen anyone. There is just the voice of Gunn. Can the two figure out the mystery and figure out what is going on? As we are in WWII, the Japanese could show up. And what will happen if they do?
This was a nice little story. As noted, Bedford-Jones had a few stories in Weird Tales. Four make up the short series “Adventures of a Professional Corpse” that has been collected into a single volume by Steeger Books. See my review of that. There are six other short stories, one under one of his pen names. I think what would be good would be to collect all six in a single volume, say “H. Bedford-Jones in Weird Tales.” We’ll have to see what happens.
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