‘Pulp Reader’ series

A short-lived pulp reprint series is Pulp Reader, which came out from Ken Krueger‘s Shroud publications in the mid-1970s. Running only three issues, each reprinted a shudder pulp story. They came out at the same time that Fantasy House, which Krueger (1926-2009) was involved with, was putting out the excellent Fantasy Reader and Fantasy Classics series, but the print quality of these was not the same. Also around the same time, Shroud was doing the “The Library Lovecraftian.”

The first two volumes are very similar in format, both coming out in July 1975. Each are 4- by 6.5-inches, 58 pages, and noted as limited editions of 995 copies each. Strangely, there are two different covers for each. One version has the same artwork by an unnamed artist with the title of the work (this may have been Krueger himself). Issue #1 uses yellow paper for the cover, while #2 has goldenrod paper. Another version has no artwork, with the title just typed on the cover. Issue #1 used red paper for the cover and #2 green paper. The interiors are the same, on white paper. They are also marked as being kk-25 and kk-26. I don’t know if a complete listing of Kruger’s publications exists, or what kk-1 thru 24 are.

Pulp Reader #1 reprinted “When the Banshee Called” by Wayne Rogers from Terror Tales (May/June 1938). Pulp Reader #2 reprinted “The Bride of the Serpents” by J.O. Quinliven (pseudonym of Kenneth Perkins, 1890-1951) from the same issue of Terror Tales. Both stories were printed from photocopies from the original magazine.

The third and final issue was different in many ways. Coming out in 1976, it is 5.5- by 8.24-inches, 36 pages, sports a wrap-around cover by David Weiss, and still a limited edition of 995 pages. I thought it would be marked as kk-27, but it wasn’t. Interior paper was yellow.

Pulp Reader #3 reprinted “The Mole Men Want Your Eyes” by Frederick C. Davis from Horror Stories (April-May 1938).

Plan with these was to put out 12 a year. We are promised “Sleep With Me — Or Death!” by Wayne Rogers, also from Horror Stories (April/May 1938), for the next issue. Obviously, this never happened.

Again, I’ve never seen a complete listing of all the works published by Ken Krueger, and wonder if these are towards the end of his publishing career. Steeger Books has reprinted some shudder works, but these have never been reprinted and I’m not sure if there are any plans to do these.