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Published in “Amazing Stories Quarterly,” Vol. 1, No. 1 (Winter 1928)
“The next day Professor Sherard broadcast his last words to the world. It was the message of the last hope, a call for migration to the moon. . . The moon offers the only refuge if any of earth’s inhabitants are to survive. . . Within a normal week it will be not less than fifty-thousand, despite its retarded progress. Then its tides will leap higher than our loftiest peaks, many of which will be destroyed by earthquakes or undermined by the flood. . .
“When the moon has attained a proximity of about twenty-five thousand miles (and its approach stops and reverses), another glacial age will have truly come upon the earth. Though our globe may become a ball of ice like the distant planets Neptune and Uranus, it is possible that the fury of the tides will prevent the waters congealing as a whole. However, there will be icebergs rivaling Mount Everest in size. Moreover, the sorely perplexed planet will be all but split asunder by centrifugal force which is already manifesting itself in cataclysmic earthquakes. But the world will survive because of its density. . .” [Quoting the story]
[Note: In a recent movie directed by Roland Emmerich, "Moonfall" (2022), the moon is knocked out of its orbit and sent on a collision course with earth, Needless to say, the catastrophe that follows is on full display. Though fun to watch, the other stuff about a Dyson Sphere, white dwarf and rogue AI is nutty as a fruitcake.]
Norman Saunders (1907-1989) was a prolific commercial artist who produced paintings for pulp magazines, paperbacks, men’s adventure magazines, comic books and trading cards. He painted for all the major pulp magazine publishers, including Fawcett Publications from 1928-1934 and as a free-lancer from 1935-1942. He was well known for his fast-action scenes and beautiful women and he worked in almost any genre – western, detective, sports and the saucy pulps (sometimes signed as “Blaine,” his middle name).
Saunders got his first assignment from the trading card company Topps in 1958, painting over the photos of baseball players who had been traded so that they would appear to be wearing the jersey of their new team. By 1962, he was creating artwork for other cards, including the infamous Mars Attacks series. Saunders painted the 55-card set.
The illustration shows “the malignant intelligence of space taking, for their own, an air vessel of the Earth with its passengers, bound across the continent .” [Accompanying description]
“They have been so near that we can now say they are groups of immense shapes, always shining faintly of their own light. We are only hoping that if they are intent on mischief, it may not be directed our way, since we have arrived now so close to Esteris (Jupiter). . . We have found out what the strange things are, but do not wish to put a name to them. They are now always seen either passing in the direction of Esteris, or else coming from that direction. We are only hoping Esteris is not inhabited by them, for if it is there is no hope for us . . .
“Slowly, stubbornly, realization came to the populace, as the detestable hordes overspread the Earth, and a mad panic set in, which reached its remotest corners. All races, colors, and conditions alike – such as were left of them – began to mill about in frantic terror. If it had at first been difficult to coax or browbeat them to do anything in the way of taking precautions, it was now impossible to get them to do anything but skulk in their homes, or whatever places seemed to offer them the most security from the primordial menace . . .” [Quoting the story]
Painting by Earl Norem, via the Men's Adventure Magazines Facebook Group (www.facebook.com/groups/187984097012/), from the collection of member Gordon Conrad. Does any know what magazine it was used in?
“After what you’ve done to me . . . kill me!”
From the back cover:
It is no exaggeration to say that this powerful story is one of the most dramatic novels Roland Vane has ever penned. Taking as his “heroine” a woman – little more than a girl – who finds herself drawn into a loveless marriage because of a girlish indiscretion, he traces the effect of marital disillusion until at last it flares out into an intense, unreasoning hatred.
Fascinated by a handsome young lover, she embarks on a life of deceit, until, carried on by a wild surging passion which neither of them can resist, she and her lover are involved in a stark tragedy to which there can only be one conclusion.
Her lover pays the price, but the woman who has loved and lost cannot escape the retribution which is remorselessly overtaking her. Eventually, the prey of a wretched blackmailer who filches from her money, body, and soul, she discovers too late that the wages of sin are sometimes even worse than death.
“A NOVEL WITH A HEART SEARCHING MORAL, OUTSTANDING IN ITS FRANKNESS.”
From the back cover:
“Now I know you for a vile creature, hardly worth the name of man at all – a vile seducer – a filthy lecher . . . ! And you’ve never loved anything in your life – except your vile and evil self . . . !”
These were the terrible words that brought Eyre Drummond’s world tumbling down about him. The one person that meant everything to him turned against him. At long last he was paying for the sins of his youth – not in money but in all that counted in his happiness.
Eyre, who in his youth used his great wealth to gain his desires with innocent young girls, felt that with money he had paid his full measure for these pleasures. It wasn’t until many years later that he found he really had to pay.
This is a tale told with realism and understanding by Pierre Flammeche, who understands fully the passions and desires of his characters.
“Into distant time we travel, where a unique civilization has arisen . . .
“Our time explorer walks blithely through the air over the city of the future in which he has suddenly found himself. On his feet are shoes holding the small turbines that compress the air beneath him, thus giving him a cushion on which to walk.”
{1930's version of Marty McFly's hoverboard in "Back to the Future, Part II")
“Ranch Romances,” by far the most successful of the western romance pulps, enjoyed a 47-year run and over 860 issues published from September 1924 through November 1971. The magazine was a veritable lust in the dust, mixing romance novels with Western stories.
“Ranch Romances,” by far the most successful of the western romance pulps, enjoyed a 47-year run and over 860 issues published from September 1924 through November 1971. The magazine was a veritable lust in the dust, mixing romance novels with Western stories.
The illustrations are in Bob Olsen’s story titled “Four Dimensional Transit” in “Amazing Stories Quarterly,” Vol. 1, No. 4 (Fall, 1928).
In the story, Professor Banning and three associates install rockets and a “four-dimensional rudder” on their airplane, the “Spirit of Youth,” which allow them to fly beyond the gravitational field of the earth, out into space and beyond. The story certainly impressed the magazine editor who has this to say:
“We have published many “Four Dimensional” stories both in the Quarterly and the Monthly, but we unhesitatingly state, that the present story is, without exception, the best one we have ever published along these lines.
“This is the sort of story you will read and re-read during the months to come, and you will never get quite enough of it. And what is more, this is a story that will make you think.
“Every high school and every physics teacher and professor will wish his class to read this story, due to the most excellent astronomical data contained in it. This story not only contains excellent astronomy, but excellent physics as well.
“The theme is as good or even better than Jules Verne’s famous classic, “Around the World in Eighty Days.” Indeed, it parallels that story in cleverness and in the same sort of unusual clever ending.
“In addition to all of this, it is an unusually good interplanetarian story, and we know that it will be joyfully received by every scientifiction fan.”
[Note: Nobody in this story travels into the fourth dimension or at warp speed, so why the obsession with four dimensions? There may be a reason for this, given when the story was written. Back in the 1920s, one of the world’s most famous people was Albert Einstein, and he did more than any other scientist to popularize the notion of “Four Dimensional” space, with time serving as the fourth dimension.]
From FOR MEN ONLY, Feb 1968... A "Book Bonus" version of the 1962 Richard Stark (Donald Westlake) novel THE HUNTER (amzn.to/2YvUEPJ). Artwork by Earl Norem. More about Earl in these posts on my blog -> www.menspulpmags.com/search?q=earl+norem
This Charles Copeland "Good Girl Art" duotone from the May 1973 issue of MALE is one of the pop culture treasures featured in the latest post on the MensPulpMags.com blog. Here's a direct link to the post - www.menspulpmags.com/2012/05/male-magazine-may-1973-part-...
“Our cover this month depicts a scene from the story entitled 'The Beetle Experiment' by Russell Hays, in which the scientist is shown 'cornered' by the giant tiger beetle, which attained its enormous size through his own experimental efforts.”
“Lakh-Dal flashes his concentrated rays of isolated moonbeams, or ‘Lunacy Rays,’ straight in the face of the unfortunate Chinese victim. In five minutes, the man becomes a hopeless lunatic, whose vacuous and grotesque mouthings were fearful to behold. . .”
[Perhaps that accounts for the lunacy in our world?]
“That is for you and me to discover, if possible,” replied the General, “for I tell you frankly,” and there was no mistaking the gravity of his manner – “I tell you frankly, that unless we track this evil creature to his hiding place and crush him as we would a loathsome toad, our boasted Western civilization will collapse and we shall become a nation of raving maniacs.”
“I believe you really mean it,” said Errell, impressed in spite of himself by the other’s manner.
“Mean it? Of course I mean it!” exclaimed Gen. Humiston, at the same time bringing his fist down on the table with a bang. “Good God, man, don’t you read the papers? . . . Don’t you realize that insanity is increasing among us at a frightful rate, that our asylums are already overcrowded and the whole land overrun with morons?”
“Yes, to all three questions,” was the sober rejoinder.
From MAN'S BOOK, October 1966. Artist uncredited, but probably Norman Saudners, who did many cover and interior illustrations for the men's adventure magazine published by Reese and EmTee, such as MAN'S BOOK, MAN'S EPIC, MAN'S STORY and NEW MAN. You can see more examples in the posts at this link - bit.ly/1qcX39g
“Vingie and Ron Sherman came down into the valley searching for her father. They found instead a terrible desolation, and an incredible menace. . . Death cut a grim swath across the blasted valley, making it a tomb of mummies.”
Charles Willeford is best known for his series of novels featuring hardboiled detective Hoke Moseley. The first Hoke Moseley book, Miami Blues (1984), is considered one of its era's most influential works of crime fiction. Film adaptations have been made of three of Willeford's novels: Cockfighter, Miami Blues and The Woman Chaser. According to crime novelist Lawrence Block, "Willeford wrote quirky books about quirky characters and seems to have done so with a magnificent disregard for what anyone else thought."
The Belmont Book publishers commissioned "The Machine in Ward Eleven" as a paperback original. The manuscript -- even before it went to press -- had begun to scare the wits out of readers. In this collection of six related works of pulp fiction, Willeford tries his hand at psychological horror, weird fables and twist-ending stories popularized by The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock.
"The most eloquently brainy and exacting pulp fiction ever fabricated!" -- Village Voice
For more on this one, you could have a look at my blog: davewhatt.wordpress.com/2017/02/27/every-kind-of-hideous-...
A noire styled image of a model sitting on an old flight of steps smoking a cigarette.
Lighting: Speedlight from camera left (gelled), and octa softbox behind model.
"There weren't any more hitches now. The story flowed like a torrent. The margin bell chimed almost staccato, the roller turned with almost piston-like continuity, the pages sprang up almost like blobs of batter from a pancake skillet. The bourbon kept rising in the glass and, contradictorily, steadily falling lower. The cigarettes gave up their ghosts, long thin gray ghosts, in a good cause; the mortality rate was terrible."
~ Cornell Woolrich, The Penny-A-Worder
© Mark V. Krajnak | JerseyStyle Photography | All Rights Reserved 2016
Farley's "The Radio Planet" was originally serialized in Argosy from June 26 - July 24, 1926. It is part of "The Radio Man" series consisting of five novels: "The Radio Man," "The Radio Beasts," "The Radio Planet," "The Radio Menace," and "The Radio Mind." They are interplanetary and inner-world adventure yarns in the tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs. The novels chiefly center around electrical engineer Myles Cabot, who disappears from his home in Boston while performing an experiment. He finds himself transported to the planet Venus where he embarks on various adventures.
Illustrated with 17 posed B&W photos.
SEX WAS HER WEAPON!
From the Introduction:
When a girl from a street like Margrove Street determines to travel with Park Avenue's elite, nothing can stop her. Especially if the girl is fiery, seductive Hazel Appleby. Men and women alike were but stepping stones to her success, an upward path that wound up with Hazel as the superbly kept mistress of the town's influential publisher, Ralph Hegel. And what happened to Ralph didn't happen to Don, the only man who failed to fall under the spell of the glamorous and completely heartless vixen!
Fox Force Five!
Artwork ©jackiecrossley
© All rights reserved. This image may not be copied, reproduced, distributed, republished, downloaded, displayed, posted or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic, mechanical, photocopying & recording without my written permission. Thank you.
Created for the Magnificent Manipulated Masterpieces
“If one were to ask us for the names of the five greatest scientific stories that have been written so far, one of the five would unquestionably be, ‘WHEN THE SLEEPER WAKES.’
“Few stories of the scientifiction type are as absorbing or grip your imagination with such intensity as does this story. The theme of a man waking up after a 200-year sleep may not be so novel in itself, but under Wells’ treatment it certainly becomes the outstanding story of its class of all times. It is crammed full with adventure and surprises and there is hardly a page that does not retain your full interest. While this story was written years ago, before the advent of the aeroplane, it still remains true in practically every way. Mr. Wells not only anticipated the aeroplane and to a good extent, broadcasting, as it has come to pass, but he anticipated many other inventions, some of which we are still ignorant of, though they are certain to be realized. If you want to know what the world will very likely look like 200 years from now, read this masterpiece.
“Of added interest is the fact that we have preserved the original illustrations conceived by an English artist (actually, a French artist – Henri Lanos) which will go far toward a better understanding of the story.” [Editor’s Note]
AAW June 19 -26: Movie Stills
WIT: Well, one of my favourite films is Pulp Fiction. I love the dance scene between Uma Thurman and John Travolta. Here is my take on John Travolta's move - with Uma's white shirt.
Took several pics to get the right look with my arms - after several poses with my arms I felt the diagonal worked best, as well as looking into the camera. In post cropped a bit, and tweaked the colours.
Read my interview with former men's pulp mag artist Bruce Minney here - www.menspulpmags.com/2011/11/bruce-minney-interview-part-...
Panda as Mia Wallace
Porque eu tô muito Tarantino.
Cartaz original: aram.free.fr/audio/images/pulp_fiction_front.jpg
I've had this on the back burner for a couple months and finally got around to making a clean background plate. Who knew that Boromir was a slack-off drug dealer in his spare time?
“The clouds continued to scatter until several fiery balls varying in red, blue and yellow light, were visible through the rift. Might it be that the inhabitants of Pleasantown were celebrating the cessation of the deluge in a most extraordinary manner?
“In this unusual story, the author has woven a most entrancing idea, and has literally studded it with any amount of interesting features that will keep you guessing to the final page. It is a different Mars story than the many that have been published before, and it will not fail to hold your interest throughout. The science contained in the story is excellent, and coupled with this goes Mrs. Harris’ mysticism, always an added attraction in her stories.”
"The Not-So-Pure-Girl." From MEN, July 1965. Story by Alex Austin. Art by Charles Copeland. Via my Men's Adventure Magazines Facebook group - bit.ly/mensadventureFB