Well, we got our annual issue of Blood ‘n’ Thunder, the Blood ‘n’ Thunder 2023 Special Edition, again a little before Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention. This one also clocks in at 334 pages, with articles, fiction reprints, and more on pulp, vintage movies, and old-time radio. We get a lot of top contributors this time.
We get a previously unpublished work by the late Robert Sampson. I’ve posted on some of his works, and still need to complete my review of his six-volume magnum opus, Yesterday’s Faces. This one is on the short-lived genre of gangster pulps, where gangsters, molls, and other thugs were the main focus.
Author Cornell Woolrich is the subject of two pieces. From well-known pulp historian Don Hutchison is a look at a film adaptation of Woolrich’s work Black Albi, which was based on a story that appeared in Strange Detective Stories. This one is about a black panther who is killing people. But is it really the culprit in several murders? And from the late author Ron Goulart is a reminiscence of his personal relationship with Woolrich.
Pulp historian Will Murray takes a look at a now forgotten Western pulp author Clyde A. Warden. During his pulp career, he had created a popular Western hero for the Ace magazines named Bert Little, who starred in over 70 stories. His work was so good that some thought he was just another pseudonym for Max Brand. But at some point, he stopped writing pulp works and instead moved on to other matters. I don’t think any of his stories have been reprinted. I wonder if this might spark interest in his stories such that someone reprints them? I’m not interested in Western characters myself, but I am intrigued by the description of the bizarre foes he later went up against, making him almost a Western counterpart to Ace’s Secret Agent X or the Moon Man.
Pulp researcher Rick Lai provides two articles. The first takes a look at the connections between the works of Robert E. Howard and Robert Bloch. That’s something I would have never imagined. His second takes a look at the mythical “Nemedian Chronicles” that underpins REH’s world of Conan. This fictional chronicle was mentioned in some Conan stories as well as his article “The Hyborian Age.”
Well-known noir writer David Goodis was the subject of a documentary a few years back, and Gilbert Colon takes a closer look at it.
The use of radio to promote pulp magazines is something I hope most pulp fans are aware of. After all, it was due to this that we got The Shadow. This time, OTR researcher Karl Schadow takes a look at the 1930-31 radio show that promoted Dell’s Scotland Yard pulp, even adapting some of the stories.
Sadly, the death of Robert E. Howard ended not only his career but that of his most popular character, Conan, which was then running Weird Tales. While others tried to fill the gap with similar characters, and some even asked for a new author to continue him, this didn’t happen at the time. It was only later when the pulp stories were being reprinted did L. Sprague de Camp start writing new stories. But things might have gone differently. Here researcher Will Oliver reveals that another pulp author was proposed to continue Conan: Leigh Brackett, who had even written an almost Conan pastiche earlier.
From editor-publisher Ed Hulse are a couple of articles as well. Too often we forget that “pulp fiction” is not a solely American phenomenon and that similar periodicals existed in other countries. His first article is on the story paper The Thriller that was published in the U.K. Existing from 1929 to 1940, this article looks at the first half of that period, when it was publishing works by Edgar Wallace, Leslie Charteris (who introduced The Saint there), and many other detective stories appeared. Interestingly, many of the authors of the Sexton Blake stories wrote stories for The Thriller. And John Creasley introduced us to The Toff, but only did a few stories there, instead taking the character elsewhere.
Hulse’s second article is on silent-era movie serials, in particular ones starring Francis Ford and Grace Cunard. These would be done by what would become Universal Pictures.
There are some reprints. One is a collection of writer’s advice from The Writer’s Digest from a trio of experienced pulp fictioneers Frank Gruber, Wyatt Blassingame, and Robert Turner. The second is a reprint of a letter by Edgar Rice Burroughs on his experience with publishing his own books, even getting into the costs. This may be eye-opening for those who do not understand or appreciate what goes into that. This has some relevancy as well as we are being told that ERB Inc. is now 100 years old.
Now, while we won’t get another “special edition” until next year, there are some additional works coming out from Murania. One is a look at movies titled 32 from ’32: Fantastic Cinemas Landmark Year. And the other may be a new BnT Presents volume in time for PulpFest.
