Magazine Review: High Adventure #47: The Case of the Black Lotus

Magazine Review: High Adventure #47: The Case of the Black Lotus edited by John P. Gunnison The success of Sax Rohmer’s classic villain Fu Manchu led to other writers trying to create their own Yellow Peril master villains. A couple of them even got their own short-lived pulp magazines. This magazine reprints the stories from… Continue reading Magazine Review: High Adventure #47: The Case of the Black Lotus

Magazine Review: High Adventure #172: The Hell’s Angels Squad

Magazine Review: High Adventure #172: The Hell’s Angels Squad edited by John P. Gunnison This time around, the focus is on the French Foreign Legion stories of Warren Hastings Miller originally published in Blue Book magazine back in the late 1920s. As I’ve discussed before, tales of the Legion were a popular subgenre of pulp… Continue reading Magazine Review: High Adventure #172: The Hell’s Angels Squad

Magazine Review: Strange Fantasy Spring 1970

The stories illustrated on the cover are, from left, "The Shrine of Temptation", "Sword of Flowers" and "Planet of Change".

Magazine Review: Strange Fantasy Spring 1970 “Strange Fantasy” was a short-lived reprint digest-sized magazine from Ultimate Publishing. This issue’s stories were originally published between 1959 and 1964, which somewhat belies the cover text. “The Shrine of Temptation” by Judith Merril starts us off with an anthropologist’s tale of a mysterious shrine on an isolated island.… Continue reading Magazine Review: Strange Fantasy Spring 1970

Magazine Review: The Phantom Detective September 1935

Magazine Review: The Phantom Detective September 1935 Quick recap: The Phantom is Richard Curtis Van Loan, a wealthy man-about-town. While he started fighting crime out of boredom and a chance to get thrills, he soon developed a burning hatred of crime and major criminals that allow him to carry on a crusade. A master of… Continue reading Magazine Review: The Phantom Detective September 1935

Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine June 1953

Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine June 1953 edited by Ellery Queen Since this has floated to the top of my TBR pile, let’s look at another vintage issue of this classic mystery magazine. The cover depicting an aerialist falling to presumed death after being stuck with a dart has nothing to do with any… Continue reading Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine June 1953

Magazine Review: Oh Reader, Issue 001

Magazine Review: Oh Reader, Issue 001 edited by Gemma Peckham So it turns out publishers are still starting new print magazines in this calamitous year of 2020. Fittingly, it’s a magazine for and about people who like to read. The primary focus, at least in this issue, is essays on various aspects of reading. The… Continue reading Magazine Review: Oh Reader, Issue 001

Magazine Review: High Adventure #171: Far East Fiction of Frederick Moore

Magazine Review: High Adventure #171: Far East Fiction of Frederick Moore edited by John P. Gunnison In this pulp reprint issue, we’re off to the exotic South Seas, in particular Malaysia. According to the introduction, although Frederick Moore’s byline listed him as “Captain”, there’s no record of him ever earning that title. “The Cloth of… Continue reading Magazine Review: High Adventure #171: Far East Fiction of Frederick Moore

Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine August 1949

Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine August 1949 edited by Ellery Queen It’s time for another issue of this venerable mystery magazine. The cover this time is uncredited, and does not directly match any of the stories in the issue. “Double Exposure” by Ben Hecht opens the issue with a tale of a psychiatrist who… Continue reading Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine August 1949

Magazine Review: Astounding Science Fiction July 1939

Magazine Review: Astounding Science Fiction July 1939 edited by John W. Campbell Astounding Science Fiction is now Analog, which is still being published; see earlier reviews on this blog. Today I’m looking at a key issue from the pulp days, July 1939. First, there’s this classic cover by Graves Gladney. Up front is “Addenda”, an… Continue reading Magazine Review: Astounding Science Fiction July 1939

Magazine Review: Science Fiction Adventures May 1953

Magazine Review: Science Fiction Adventures May 1953 edited by Philip St. John Science Fiction Adventures was a short-lived digest-sized magazine, running from 1952 to 1954. It was aimed at slightly younger readers, and edited by Lester del Rey under a pseudonym. Apparently, there was a dispute over payment, and del Rey quit as of 1954… Continue reading Magazine Review: Science Fiction Adventures May 1953