Adventure House

Three early novels from legendary pulp writer, J. Allan Dunn, all South Seas sagas published in ADVENTURE magazine, 1915-16. These are the stories that made Dunn one of the magazine’s marquee names.

They are stories of modern-day buccaneers—who behave a lot like their olden-day counterparts—smoothly-plotted tales, with high adventure, exotic locations, perilous predicaments, motley collections of characters, understated violence and heavy romance—the epitome of pulp adventure of the era.

Includes: THE ISLAND OF THE DEAD (April 1915), Dunn’s rousing first novel; THE GOLD LUST (November 1915), which follows a treasure from the Sierras to an uncharted island hideaway; and its sequel, BEYOND THE RIM (July 1916), which cemented Dunn as one of ADVENTURE readers’ favorite authors.

• 6x9-inch perfect bound;
• 358 pages,
• $20.00

Strange Adventures in Faraway Places

The story: a group of world-tested, globe-trotting adventures—a dog-eared diary for a guide—a carefully-plotted plan—an indomitable armed expedition—a journey into Africa, where brave men were known to enter, never to be seen again.  The mission: a quest for fable Ophir and its legendary riches.

The Land of Ophir is a freewheeling saga full of fascinating characters, action, suspense, mystery, even horror, told in Charles Beadle's inimitable style.

His three-part serial is reprinted for the first time since its 1922 appearance in Adventure magazine.

Margie Harris was the first woman hardboiled crime fiction writer in history. She wrote some of the toughest, roughest, most remorseless stories to be found in ’30s gangster pulps like Gangland Stories, Racketeer Stories and Mobs. Her avid readers questioned whether she could even be a woman. Who is this “Margie Harris”? they wondered aloud. Who is this frail who cracks wise from the inside?

I’m “just another twist,” she told them—a woman of mystery then—a woman of mystery now. She palled around with the death-row doomed and the Chicago underworld. She may have been a newswoman; may have worked in the law. One point was not in doubt. She slammed her typewriter like a machine gun, mowing down good guys and bad guys alike; shooting them, knifing them, blowing them up—lacing her prose with metaphysical commentary on the destinations of their damned souls.

Tough. Rough. Hardboiled. Through the explosive stories of Margie Harris we savor the meeting of fist and flesh, the clatter of machine guns, the stench of gas fumes from sleek Packards barreling down city streets, the bitterness of bootleg hooch, the glory of sin. A violent symphony of hot jazz.

In an age when gangsters were royalty, Margie Harris was their queen.

This inaugural anthology of her work collects eight explosive stories, an introduction by David Bischoff, and a bio of Margie Harris.

David Bischoff is a New York Times bestselling author, editor and script writer whose credits include the classic fantasy series, The Gaming Magi, and work on Star Trek: The Next Generation. He teaches in an MFA program at Seton Hill University.

If She Only Had a Machine Gun: Crime Stories by Richard Credicott
Introduction by Dave Credicott
Edited by John Locke & Rob Preston

6x9-inch perfect bound; 360 pages, $20.00

For the first time, we’re able to offer a complete pulp career in a single volume. Richard Credicott’s first story appeared in October 1929, unlucky timing indeed. Over the next few years, he struggled to make the pulp racket pay. His best work appeared in the gang pulps and ranks with the very best to be found there, wildly entertaining stories of mob mayhem and intrigue. His specialty was the molls, the tough chicks who gave the ultra-violent gangster life the touch of spice that made it all worthwhile.

This volume includes all eighteen of Richard Credicott’s stories, published from 1929-33, in MOBS, THE UNDERWORLD, RACKETEER STORIES, GANGLAND STORIES, DETECTIVE-DRAGNET, DIME DETECTIVE, and others. Included is a complete biography of Credicott’s life and writing career, offering rare insights into the ups and downs of the pulp-magazine world of the early Depression.

Until this time, there were no known living relatives of any of the gang-pulp authors. In fact, it’s exceedingly difficult to discover even the most basic information about this mostly obscure group. Therefore, it was a complete surprise and an unexpected privilege to meet Richard’s son, Dave Credicott, who enthusiastically provided an introduction to this volume, counterpointing the history with reminiscences of his father.

All of which makes this volume a unique contribution to pulp history.

Outdoor Stories

By J. Allan Dunn

Introduction by John Locke

 

OUTDOOR STORIES lasted a mere thirteen issues through 1927-28. Today, it’s one of the rarest pulp magazines. One of its best-known contributors was the prolific J. Allan Dunn. Presented in this volume are three of his long-forgotten tales from OUTDOOR STORIES which rank with his best work; gripping, fascinating adventures set in the exotic places of another day. The featured story is the novelette, "New Guinea Gold," a savage, epic tale of friendship, survival and revenge. Also included is a history of OUTDOOR STORIES, a biography of its editor, Edmund C. Richards, and an examination of Dunn’s role in the magazine.

 

6x9-inch perfect bound; 190 pages, $16.00

HOBO STORIES
By Patrick & Terence Casey
Introduction by John Locke

Hobos spoke their own language, lived by their own code. Veterans of the
road enslaved younger runaways, to use them as servants, to dispatch their
innocent faces to back doors to beg. True hobos scorned brethren who
accepted work instead of handouts. To do nothing, to pay nothing, was the
hobo dream, the true measure of freedom, the true test of authenticity.

Patrick and Terence Casey wrote five stories set in Hoboland--that is, the
backroads, railyards, and seedy hobo jungles of America where tramps
traveled and congregated. The initial story appeared in THE SATURDAY EVENING
POST (1914), the remainder in the leading pulp ADVENTURE (1916-21).
Together, they constitute a grand saga of life in a strange, often violent
underworld of yesteryear. HOBO STORIES collects the series.

The amazing Caseys . . . they were two brothers from San Francisco who sold
regularly to the pulps as teenagers. Soon thereafter, they conned their way
into the prestigious pages of ADVENTURE with tales of actual jungles--in
Borneo and Central America. Included in HOBO STORIES is a biography of the
Caseys, an examination of the roots of their hobo fiction, and, from the
pulp ROMANCE (1920), their revelatory short story about the adventures of a
teenage pulp writer.

6x9-inch perfect bound; 332 pages, $20.00

Fulton Oursler was one of the great editors of his time, ruling over the Macfadden publishing empire for two decades. He created the first true-crime magazine, True Detective Mysteries, and off-beat titles like Brain Power, Ghost Stories and True Strange Stories. He achieved national fame in the '30s as the editor of Liberty. But stage magic was his first love, and, in his heart, he remained a conjurer in a black cape and top hat. In this collection of early fiction, Oursler's bewitching imagination takes flight in tales of magic, murder and mesmerizing mystery. Apparitions, half-wits, secret panels, devious deceptions, lunatic asylums, warring magicians, criminal masterminds-it's all here. Also featured is an in-depth exploration of the amazing career of Fulton Oursler.

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Product Details Paperback: 274 pages Publisher: Off-Trail Publications (July 5, 2010) Language: English ISBN-10: 1935031139 ISBN-13: 978-1935031130 Product Dimensions: 10 x 7 x 0.6 inches

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Product Details Paperback: 258 pages Publisher: Off-Trail Publications (July 5, 2010) Language: English ISBN-10: 1935031090 ISBN-13: 978-1935031093 Product Dimensions: 10 x 7 x 0.5 inches

City of Numbered Men: The Best of Prison Stories
Edited by John Locke

During Prohibition, America's prisons filled beyond capacity with convicts, turning decrepit institutions into seething cauldrons of hate and despair.  The papers reported daily on escape attempts, inmate violence, tough
wardens, grisly executions, and horrendous riots that were beaten back with machine guns and tear gas . . . all the raw material that famed pulp publisher Harold Hersey needed to launch a pulp magazine: PRISON  STORIES. Each hardboiled issue featured sociopathic cons, snitches, corrupt guards, devious wardens, and brutal violence. Included are stories from all six issues of this ultra-rare pulp, complete and uncensored with original illustrations.

Additional features:

• Complete cover gallery
• The startling history of PRISON STORIES
• "Harold Hersey: Tales of an Ink-Stained Wretch," the first comprehensive biography of pulp publishing's most colorful character
• Author biographies
• Highlights from the monthly letters column
  
• 6x9-inch perfect bound
• 276 pages
• $20.00

Volume 2 presents the second ten adventures of Friel's Amazon rubber industry workers, Pedro and Lourenco, as they encounter strange characters and perilous situations in the unexplored Amazon jungle. Whether battling headhunters, or being turned into sex slaves by a tribe of wild women, the atmosphere is steamy and the suspense unrelenting. From the great pulp magazine, Adventure (1920-21).

Officially, Elmer Brown Mason was an entomologist for the United States Government, his beat, the swampy backwaters of the South.  Privately, he journed to the dangerous corners of the world in seach of adventure.  For a brief but intense period, his experiences inspired thrilling stories of exploration and wonder.

The ten fascinating—and fantastic—stories collected here are set in the Everglades, the Louisiana bayous, the Amazon jungle, Borneo, and other dangerous placed known to few people of his era.  The Popular Magazine, featuring the South American epic, "The Golden Anaconda."  Also included are five tales from All-Story Weekly, topped by the horror-laden two-part saga, "Black Butterflies" and "Red Tree-Frogs."  All ten stories were published from 1915 to '16, when the world was much younger than today.

GROTTOS OF CHINATOWN: The Dorus Noel Stories
By Arthur J. Burks
Introduction by John Locke

Dorus Noel spent many years in the Far East, and had the torture scars to prove it. Now he was back in New York, working undercover in Manhattan's Chinatown, confronting the most insidious crimes and criminals imaginable, cases beyond the ability of the police. Burks' Chinatown is a society of strange alliances, a place of dark menace and mystery, an urban nightmare of secret passageways riddling the district like rabbit warrens, a world under the shadow of China's ast.

Collected here for the first time are all 11 Dorus Noel stories from All Detective Magazine (1933-34). Also included is extensive new information on All
Detective and the fascinating career of the Speed-King of the Pulps, Arthur J. Burks. Stories complete with original illustrations.

6x9-inch perfect bound; 192 pages, $16.00

Two weird detective novelettes from Detective-Dragnet Magazine. "Cult of the Corpses" (January 1931) puts a detective on the trail of a murderous voodoo cult operating out of a Manhattan nightclub. "Dealers in Death" (July 1931) pits a detective against the machinations of the insidious Mr. Letherius, a contract killer who specializes in bizarre and undetectable forms of murder.

These are early (and entertaining) examples of the early '30s trend toward weird detective stories. Included is a detailed discussion of the trend; and a profile of author Maxwell Hawkins.

Stories complete with original illustrations.
6x9-inch perfect bound; 150 pages, $13.95

Volume 2 (of 3) features the next four novels of Chicago's most notorious fictional gangster. These stories, from 1931-32, find Big Nose involved with horse racing; fighting a mysterious underworld villain named the Spider. The middle two novels of the set, "Hell-Bent for Election" and "The Crime Crusade" follow Big Nose's entry into politics. He fights big city corruption with the same zeal he applied to mob warfare. Unique in pulp fiction.

Stories complete with original illustrations.
6x9-inch perfect bound; 266 pages, $20.00

Volume 3 completes the run of 12 Big Nose Serrano sagas. This volume includes the three short novels from Greater Gangster Stories, and a novelette from The Gang Magazine. In these four stories, Big Nose continues to confront the social ills of the Depression with the gangster's arsenal of violence, kidnapping and murder. A unique, and no longer forgotten, series from the gang pulps.

Stories complete with original illustrations.
6x9-inch perfect bound; 224 pages

The Ocean: 100th Anniversary Collection

Edited by John Locke

 

The Ocean is one of the great forgotten pulp magazines. Started by Frank Munsey in 1907, it lasted a mere eleven issues before folding in 1908. It was also one of the first specialized pulps—a sea-story magazine—with contributions from an amazing variety of authors: some, the best sea-story writers of the day; others, destined for anonymity; and still others who achieved fame in surprising ways. This 100th Anniversary Collection presents twenty of the best stories published in The Ocean, representing the wide scope of the magazine’s contents.

 

Over 30 pages of nonfiction material included: a history of The Ocean; profiles of editor, Bob Davis, and the motley crew of authors who found their way into The Ocean’s pages—and ours.

Some of the featured stories:

 

* “In the Land of To-Morrow” by Epes Winthrop Sargent. This illustrated two-part serial was an early scientific romance, of the kind Munsey pulps would become famous for. A down-on-his-luck inventor is introduced to a secret island where science is the highest ideal, the technology is futuristic, and freedom is . . .

 

The author was moonlighting. A noted columnist, he was one of three founding partners of the Broadway trade paper, Variety.

 

* “When All Were Equal” by T. Jenkins Hains. A harrowing tale of men at sea struggling against nature’s fiercest weather. It was a time when every man was looking out for himself, and no one there was thinking of dying for the other fellow’s sake. It was just struggle, breathe, and struggle, with the wind, now as cold as ice, howling over us and the frost of the winter in the air.

 

Hains knew of what he wrote. A seasoned sailor, his yacht was caught in a hurricane in 1903. When a passing ship stopped to help, the rescuers found his rudder broken, his rigging torn to shreds, and his wife lashed to the mast. And that only scratches the surface of his remarkable life. . . .

 

* “When His Chance Came” by Clarence Budington Kelland. When his captain is stricken with smallpox, a first mate takes charge of a coal-ship crossing Lake Superior—and the superstitious crew threatens mutiny. “I’ll get this boat into Duluth if I have to kill every one of you with my bare hands and work her in alone!”

 

Kelland went on to become one of the highest-paid authors of his era—and one of the greatest gadflies.

 

6x9” perfect bound, 20 stories, 234 pages, $18

• The Life and Crimes of Big Nose Serrano * Will Murray
• A Page from the Publisher's Notebook * Gangster Stories, December 1929
• Serrano of the Stockyards * Gangster Stories 05/30
• The Gang Buster * Gangster Stories 10/30
• The Gunless Gunman * Gangster Stories 02/31
• Dames, Dice and the Devil * Gangster Stories 06/31
• 263 pages
• 6x9

 

Something struck the top of Wade's skull with terrific force.  His gun was shaken from his fingers.  He crumpled to the floor.  He fought to regain his faculties, but seemed to be suspended in endless space, a nightmare sense of unreality which suddenly deepened into horror.

A hand moved close above him.  The lights in the room went out.  A cold weight pressed down against his face.  While he lay on his back, feebly conscious, some loathsome, clammy substance crawled across his skin.  It was like the hand of death. Hideous fingers spread over his chin and nose and eyes.  His breath was almost stifled.  The crawling fingers wove a network of horror across his face like a fearful shroud.

The ghatliness of it brought him out of his semi-stunned state.  His mind began to function.  He knew he was marked as a victim of....THE KISS OF KORMA.

In 1929, a new kind of magazine appeared on the newsstands, the gang pulps!  And no magazine that preceded them gave the pulps a worse reputation.  Month after month, the stories luridly recounted the exploits of the most sadistic killers, the most craven squealers, the most coldblooded gun molls, the most corrupt cops, the most ruthless gang bosses, the most brutal mob wars, that ever escaped the realm of the imagination—a genre of extremes.

There had been outlaw heroes in crime fiction before, but none like this new breed, who toasted with bootleg liquor while their bloody victims lay dying on the floor.  Almost imeediately, the gang pulps came under attack from the censors.  America's morals lay dying on the pulpwood pages, they claimed.

Centered in the crosshairs was Harold Hersey, famed pulp editor, creator of Gangster Stories, Racketeer Stories, Speakeasy Stories, and a raft of other gang magazines.  The censors threated him with proseecution. Clean up—or else!

But the story of this clash has never before been told; nor have many of the stories been available since their original publication during the dying years of Prohibition.  In "Glorifying the American Goon," an in-depth introduction based on all-new research, the world of the gang pulps is explored: what the stories were about, what happened during the attack on Hersey, how he responsed, and how the stories changed.

But you won't have to take our word for anything.  Also included in Gang Pulp are nineteen rare stories, selected from both the pre- and post-censorship periods.  Did Hersey clean up the stories?  Judge for yourself in violent and profane pulp classics like "One Hour Before Dawn," "Rough on Rats," and "City of Bullets."