Adventure House

DEPARTMENTS

Editorial Comments
Epistolary Exchange
Convention Corner
[Windy City 2011]
Tricks of the Trade
[Erle Stanley Gardner's scathing 1939 appriasial of the pulp-fiction market]
Cliffhanger Classics
[Daniel J. Neyer on Drums of Fu Manchu a highly regarded Republic serial]

FEATURE ARTICLES & REPRINTS

Three Aces In One Draw
[Sure Fire Comics #1 (1940) boasted a trio of stories adapted from hero pulps]
He Always Knew What Evil Lurked
[Part Two of Martin Grams Jr.'s survey of The Shadow's early years on radio]
The Final Years of Bill Blackbeard
[John Locke shares his memories of this legendary collector and archivist]
Munsey: The Man Who Made The Argosy
[Nathan Madison's take on the publisher who invented the pulp magazine]
Silver Scales of Justice
[Robert Leslie Bellem's South Sea yarn from a 1941 issue of Spicy Adventure]

The latest issue of Blood ‘n’ Thunder has just been shipped to subscribers and is now available for single-copy purchase. It offers two articles for Doc Savage fans: one covers the 1985 Doc radio series broadcast over National Public Radio, the other reveals sources used (and even plagiarized) by primary series author Lester Dent while writing about the exotic locales in Doc's adventures. A lengthy and detailed piece by Robert O. Erisman, editor of the pulp line published by Marvel Comics owner Martin Goodman, explains how to build a salable pulp story “brick by brick.” BnT editor Ed Hulse writes about Patria, the 1917 movie serial that sparked an international incident. Gary Lovisi and Mark Trost contribute pulp and paperback reviews, and the little-known 1940 comic-book story featuring a thinly disguised Captain Future (renamed Major Mars) is reprinted for the first time anywhere.

Blood ‘n’ Thunder #27 (Summer 2010) is entirely devoted to a celebration of the legendary pulp magazine Adventure, the first issue of which was published exactly 100 years ago. Every article has an Adventure theme. The “Tricks of the Trade” department, for example, offers a lengthy excerpt from The Fundamentals of Fiction Writing, a 1922 how-to for aspiring fictioneers written by the magazine’s best-known editor, Arthur Sullivant Hoffman. “Series Spotlight” trains a bright light on the fascinating Lady Fulvia of Rocca Forte yarns by Farnham Bishop and Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur—a 1918-20 series that may well have inspired Robert E. Howard’s much-later creation of Red Sonja. And “Cliffhanger Classics” covers The Red Rider, a 1934 Buck Jones chapter play adapted from a W. C. Tuttle novel serialized in Adventure.

The issue’s extra-long feature articles include Tom Krabacher’s extensive biography/career overview of favorite Adventure contributor Gordon Young, and a modern-day version of “The Camp-Fire,” the venerable pulp’s regular forum for letters from authors and readers alike. The latter feature discusses Adventure’s glory days in depth and includes contributions from some of the magazine’s most avid fans and collectors, including Doug Ellis, Dave Scroggs, Tom Krabacher, Ralph Grasso, Brian Taves, Digges La Touche, Walker Martin, and BnT editor Ed Hulse. Closing out BnT’s Summer 2010 number are reprints of an early Gordon Young thriller and one of the Lady Fulvia stories. This 108-page issue contains dozens of illustrations, including reproductions of many rare Adventure covers.

Blood ‘n’ Thunder #26 weighs in at 108 pages and is packed with the usual array of articles, departments, illustrations, and advertisements.  The Spring 2010 issue begins with a “Convention Corner” update on this year’s PulpFest.   “Tricks of the Trade” reprints a 1943 Writer’s Digest article by G. T. Fleming-Roberts, who describes the various gimmicks he used to plot his pulp mystery yarns.  “Cliffhanger Classics” presents a beginner’s guide to collecting movie serials, featuring scans of many rare photos and posters. “Adventurous Airwaves” offers the second and final part of a lengthy excerpt from an excellent new book on the Green Hornet radio show, written by Martin Grams and Terry Salomonson. It includes newly uncovered publicity photos taken in 1937 with members of the original cast.

Feature articles include “A Chronology of Clubfoot,” in which Daniel J. Neyer exhaustively analyzes the all-but-forgotten series of adventure/espionage novels written in the years between the two World Wars by British author Valentine Williams; “Hopalong Cassidy: Birth of a Legend,” Ed Hulse’s comparison of the first Hoppy movie to the 1910 Clarence E. Mulford novel from which it was adapted; and “Unholy Jitters: Sex and Sadism in the Red Circle Horror Pulps,” reprinted by popular demand from the long out-of-print second issue of BnT.  The issue closes with “Seven Doughty Doughs,” a lengthy Arthur Guy Empey novelette reprinted from the January 1931 issue of Battle Stories.

This features a wide variety of articles covering pulp and pop-culture history. Highlights include Hulse's comparison of the original 1919 Zorro novel with its groundbreaking 1920 movie adaptation and old-time radio expert Martin Grams on the Early years of the Green Hornet radio show. Also novelist Bill Maynard on reviving Sax Rohmer's immortal Fu Manchu and historian John Locke's chronicle of the early 30s fusion of horror with the pulp detective story. Includes the second half of a lengthy retrospective covering Street & Smith's flagship pulp, The Popular Magazine, and a review of the 1943 Republic serial, Daredevils of the West. Great articles with lots of vintage artwork and photos.

Blood 'n' Thunder #24 (Summer 2009) packs plenty into its latest hundred-plus-page issue. Feature articles include Part One of editor Ed Hulse's massive survey of Street & Smith's The Popular Magazine; Jean-Marc Lofficier's fascinating overview of pulp-like French crime fiction; and Will Murray's look at the post-pulp career of prolific fictioneer Arthur J. Burks. The Burks article is accompanied by a reprint of his most notorious weird-menace yarn (featuring a necrophiliac protagonist) from Mystery Tales.

Also: a heavily illustrated report on this year's Windy City pulp-collector show, guidelines for Depression-era writers trying to crack Ten Detective Aces, individual pulp reviews, and a lengthy article presenting newly discovered information on the long-lost 1928 movie serial, Tarzan the Mighty. A limited number of copies sold at the recent PulpFest and Ed reports that all subscriber copies were mailed out as of 8/26.

Each issue of the award-winning Blood 'n' Thunder now tops 100 pages and sports laminated color covers, giving it the appearance of a trade paperback. 

Double issue in a whole new package.  Perfect bound, with even more pages and articles.  A sure fire hit for fans of pulps, and old movies.

Articles on Norman Saunders, John Sunlight, Wild Bill Elliott and more.