It’s 2022, and this time we got the Blood ‘n’ Thunder 2022 Special Issue a little before Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention.
It clocks in at 334 pages, I think the biggest so far and bigger than last year’s Annual, with articles, fiction reprints, and more on pulp, vintage movies, and old-time radio. It’s also the 20th anniversary of Blood ‘n’ Thunder. Why “Special” instead of “Annual”? Read the intro to find out why from editor/publisher Ed Hulse of Murania Press.
We kick off with an article by pulp researcher Will Murray, who looks into who probably wrote the short-lived villain pulps The Octopus and The Scorpion. It’s been unclear who wrote them, and even when I wrote about them, this was unclear. The thought was that Norvell Page wrote them with Ejler and Edith Jacobsen revamping them, as they were paid to do so. But some just didn’t think Page did so. Murray explains his research and reasoning that points to another author of weird-menace works.
And I would certainly like to see the two short series mentioned that ran in Strange Detective Stories, which each only ran two stories each, reprinted as well. I wish Steeger Books would reprint The Octopus and The Scorpion stories in a dos-à-dos format, as I only have the old Weinberg Pulp Classics editions, and would really like to get a more modern reprint with nice color covers.
From fan Donald Sidney-Fryer, we get a memoir of his experiences with August Derleth and Fritz Leiber Jr. I always enjoyed these sort of works, as you get a better feel for the persons involved than what you often get from biographies.
We get an array of reviews of pulps and reference works from different people. There are some interesting items here. Having read the first Rouletabille novel, reading the review of its sequel was great. And I wanted to learn more about F. Van Wyck Mason‘s Captain/Colonel Hugh North.
Film historian Richard W. Bann offers a behind-the-scenes look at the making of This Gun for Hire (1942), an early film-noir classic.
We get five articles reprinted from the Writer’s Digest in the 1930s by various pulp writers. First is from pulp author Eustace L. Adams. The article by H. Bedford-Jones interested me. He spoke of writing a western story with a lost-race element. Did he write this and if so what work is it? Jack Byrne was the long-time editor at Fiction House, who also did some writing. Frank Gruber was a prolific pulp writer who might be best known for The Pulp Jungle, on his pulp-writing career. Erle Stanley Gardner was a lawyer turned pulp writer, mainly detective characters, who is best known for creating Perry Mason.
There have been several radio programs that adapted or were based on pulp magazines. Researcher Karl Schadow tells of his discovering two previously unknown programs from the 1920s and ’30s. One is the Street & Smith Players, which adapted stories from Detective Story Magazine, including one with Johnston McCulley‘s Crimson Clown and another with his Black Star character. The other is Ten Detective Aces, which adapted works from Ace Magazine’s pulp of the same name.
We then get an overview of the sound-era movie serials from Universal Pictures by Daniel J. Neyer. While I knew of some of these, I would really like to see some of the ones I’ve never heard of. I hope they are released at some point.
I’m not sure if people are aware of pulp collector Robert Lesser. I know of him thanks to a couple of books that highlighted his pulp art collection. Here we get an interview with him that covers a great deal of information with him.
Gilbert Colon takes a look at the CBS All Access series called Strange Angel and its pulp references. This show dramatized the life of space-program pioneer Jack Parsons. I wasn’t aware of him, but just from his pictures he reminds me of the original comicbook version of Tony Stark, so I wonder if he was an inspiration for the character?
Finally, the last third of the book has several articles, most by Ed Hulse, focused on the early years of Doubleday’s Crime Club, which published some important works of mystery fiction including characters like The Saint, Dr. Fu Manchu, and Bulldog Drummond. We learn how the Club came about, and get a chronological listing of their works from 1928 to 1940. Other articles includes a look at ’30s movies and radio programs adapted from Crime Club novels, including complete chronological lists of those films and radio broadcasts. And the articles include a lot of promotional artwork and photos.
Once again, it’s a great volume. While not everything is pulp related, there is enough to enjoy, and the related works are always interesting. I would rather see small issues on a more frequent schedule, but better to have an annual volume than nothing. Whatever we may get next, I know it will be excellent.
