An interesting pulp author I want to focus on is Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur (1888-1971), who was a scholar of early English, German, and Old Norse literature at the University of California, Berkeley. Academically, he is probably best known for his work on Beowulf and for his translation of Snorri Sturluson‘s Prose Edda, which is still in print. But he was also a pulp author, writing several historical fiction works that appeared in Adventure and Argosy All-Story, several co-written with his friend Farnham Bishop (1886-1930).
In looking at his biography, his pulp writing career lasted from 1916 to 1929, when he was a lecturer at UC Berkeley before becoming a professor there in 1930. Is this why he stopped writing for the pulps? Or might it have been the death of his friend Farnham Bishop? No idea myself.
At this point, only a few of his works have been brought back in print. Hopefully, there are several more that will be reprinted. Steeger Books has put out two volumes. One is He Rules Who Can, which appeared in Argosy All-Story Weekly in 1928, deals with Harald Sigurdsson (also known as Harald Hardarda or Harald III of Norway), during the time he was in the Varangian Guard in Constantinople. The other is The Adventures of Faidit and Cercamon, a series of stories with Pierre of the Sword and Cercamon the Troubadour in 12th-century Europe and the Holy Land. These appeared in Adventure from 1921-23 and 1925.
Black Dog Books reprinted In the Grip of the Minotaur, which was co-written with Farnham Bishop, as part of their series reprinted from Adventure, where it first appeared there in 1916. It is their first work of pulp fiction together. This one is set during the fall of the Minoan civilization.
DMR Books put out the collection Viking Adventures, which includes his novella “Vengeance,” based on the Völsung saga, which appeared in Adventure in 1925.
During his lifetime, the novel The Altar of the Legion, again with Bishop, was reprinted in book form. It first appeared in Adventure in 1925. It is set in Roman Britain during the time of Saxon invasion. This may be a good candidate for reprinting. Another series the two did concerns Lady Fulvia, a Sicilian warrior woman in the time of King Roger II of Sicily during the 1100s. Lady Fulvia must protect her people from invading Normans in these tales. Two stories of this six-story series have been reprinted, but I think the whole sequence should be reprinted. It appeared in Adventure in 1918 and 1920.
Beyond those, he did another dozen stories, several with Bishop. Bishop did about 20 stories, most in Adventure, on his own.
As with pulp adventure stories written by people with actual experiences of what they write, to have a scholar write historical fiction based on what they know is also incredible. If you haven’t, please check out what is available, and hopefully, we can get more from these two authors.
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