THRILLING WESTERN - SUMMER 1950

 

THRILLING WESTERN

British Edition, Vol. IV, No. 1

Atlas Publishing, Summer 1950

This is a shortened edition of the American November/December 1949 edition of Thrilling Western. The British edition only reprints four of the originals nine stories along with the short quiz. 

The opening novelette is The Coffin Riders by Bradford Scott. This is a Walt Slade tale that sees him take on a lawless killer band that holds the Sin Cajo country in a grip of fear. Bradford Scott is a pseudonym for A. Leslie Scott, a prolific writer for the pulp magazines who also wrote many of the Jim Hatfield stories as Jackson Cole. The Coffin Riders didn’t really offer anything new, just followed a typical storyline for a Slade or Hatfield tale. Slade rides into the area, keeps his identity a secret for a while, has a fist fight (which is beautifully depicted by Orban in a full-page illustration), talks to his horse and himself a lot, uses his guns, before explaining who the bad guys are, what they’d been doing and why along with the mistakes they’d made that enabled him to bring them down, then rides off strumming his guitar and singing. This was an ok predictable read that felt like it was just going through the motions which is why I’m moved say this isn’t one of the best stories I’ve read from Scott. 

A Man Like General Custer by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson is next. This is another novelette by a new author to me. This story felt like one long battle between the U.S. Army and the Apache which tests the characters of Lieutenants Beck and Carney in a fiery crucible of war and danger. Yes, we’ve met similar characters in countless stories before – the ambitious man who doesn’t think things through so endangers his men often as he hunts for glory and the more level headed Beck who covers for Carney’s mistakes when he can. Of course, there’s the Major who is at his last straw with Carney. Things aren’t helped by the Major’s daughter being sweet on Carney. There’s plenty of action and a seemingly endless supply of Apaches to be killed. The ending left a smile on my face. Wheeler-Nicholson’s prose kept this tale fresh and exciting and for me it is the best story within this issue and it certainly left me looking forward to reading more of his work sometime assuming I can find more as he only wrote just over twenty western pulp tales and I don’t have any more. 

Barry Scobee’s One Barrel of Water is the third yarn. This short story tells the tale of hard-bitten men who clash over that precious fluid in the desert heat. It’s not just a story of the fight for water as there is a little more to it than that. Namely some lost treasure. I wasn’t sure about this one as I began to read as it didn’t really hold my attention but I’m glad I persevered as it picked up and became an entertaining tale that had some well written action scenes. This was the first story I’ve read by Scobee and I’ll certainly give him another go. 

The last story is a third novelette. The Son of Shiftless Joe by Bruce Douglas. He’s another author that I haven’t read before and this story is the only one I have by him. Bruce Douglas is a pseudonym for Theodore Wayland Douglas and he wrote just over eighty western pulp stories. This one tells the tale of young Tad Jamieson as he sticks his neck out for trouble when he decides to raise sheep in cattle territory. To complicate matters, Tad is sweet on the daughter of his cattleman neighbour, so that is a romance that is seemingly doomed. Even though it is the kind of story the seasoned western reader will have come across many times Douglas’ writing kept me interested. Threats are made, sheep escape onto public land and a range war is on the horizon. The tough talk is lightened occasionally by comments from Tad’s two hands, Buck Bailey and Half-Pint King. Overall, this was a fun read even though it played out exactly as I expected it to.

If you haven’t guessed already, my favourite story within this issue of Thrilling Western was A Man Like General Custer. One-Barrel of Water and The Son of Shiftless Joe kept my attention and I enjoyed reading them. It’s just a shame The Coffin Riders was a bit of a let-down. 

A. LESLIE SCOTT BIBLIOGRAPHY

The 2nd part of Anders Nilsson's Leslie Scott bibliography is now available from archive.org including books published before 1980.

https://archive.org/details/lesliescott_booksbefore1980_nilsson_2024

Alexander Leslie Scott (1893-1974) was a very productive American western writer best known for his stories about the Texas Ranger known as Jim Hatfield or Walt Slade. 

The present bibliography lists his books published before 1980, including 223 titles used for 185 different novels. For each novel all known reprints, including translations, are listed. The highest number of translations were documented from the Scandinavian countries, including 145 novels in Swedish translation. 

Cover scans are displayed of editions from Australia and a selection of European countries.

HAUNTED VALLEY

HAUNTED VALLEY

By Jackson Cole

A Chosen Western, 1949

Most, if not all of the books published by Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., Ltd., under their Western, or Chosen Western, line are reprints that most likely appeared in the American pulps first, perhaps in shorter versions and quite often under a different title. Haunted Valley is one of those books.

Haunted Valley was originally published under the title Riders of Embrujada Valley in the October 1943 issue of Texas Rangers and it stars long-running hero Jim Hatfield. Jackson Cole is a pseudonym shared by a number of authors and this story was written by A. Leslie Scott.

Hatfield, also-known-as The Lone Wolf, rides into the Embrujada Valley to find out just what is the source behind the troubles there and put a stop to it. The reader is one step ahead of the Ranger, as the author has already told of the theft and hiding of some black opals that are supposedly worth a fortune but are also tainted with bad luck. The author does keep some secrets from both the reader and the Ranger until he’s ready to reveal them, usually through Hatfield working out just what is going on. Hatfield seems to have knowledge of everything under the sun. This is helpful when he sets to solve a cryptic map that should reveal the location of the hidden opals. Hatfield has a habit of talking to himself and his horse, Goldie, whilst pondering the problems he has to overcome. 

The author moves his story forward swiftly, so there is never a dull moment. There is plenty of gunplay as Hatfield takes on a small group of killers, but who are they working for? There are also two rival ranchers who seem set on a range war, can Hatfield stop the bloodshed before it starts? Hatfield will find himself in all kinds of deadly situations, one of which is illustrated on the book cover, before managing to bring peace to the valley.

A. Leslie Scott’s writing pulled me into the story easily, his descriptive passages are excellent, and are a little poetic at times. I did smile at some of the terms used as they were definitely a product of their times, for instance where bad language should be it says “blankety blank blank” instead. Many of the characters, including Hatfield, talk old style cowboy lingo that I occasionally had to re-read to make sure I’d understood what was being said properly.  

Overall, Haunted Valley is an entertaining read that left me looking forwards to reading the many Hatfield stories I have in pulp magazines and a handful of books.

NEW WORK ON A. LESLIE SCOTT

 

NEW WORK ON A. LESLIE SCOTT

by Anders N. Nilsson and James Reasoner

Towards a Bibliography of Alexander Leslie Scott, Focusing on Jim Hatfield, Walt Slade, and the Reprint of Pulp Stories as Books distributed as free PDF for reading online at, or downloading from:

https://archive.org/details/lesliescott_bibliography_nilssonreasoner_2024/mode/1up

Alexander Leslie Scott (1893-1974) was a very productive American western writer best known for his stories about the Texas Ranger known as Jim Hatfield or Walt Slade. The 206 novel-length Jim Hatfield stories were published in the Texas Rangers pulp magazine 1936-1958 under the house name Jackson Cole. 69 of Scott's Walt Slade novellas were published in the Thrilling Western pulp magazine 1940-1951.

Many of the Hatfield stories were reprinted as Popular Library paperbacks, whereas a large number of Walt Slade stories were published as Pyramid paperbacks. Many of Scott's pulp stories were also reprinted as hardcover remakes. Other authors studied here are Tom Curry, Peter Germano, Roe Richmond, Claude Rister, Lin Searles, and the two pseudonyms Buck Billings and Tex Holt.

THRILLING WESTERN October 1953

THRILLING WESTERN OCTOBER 1953

British Edition, Vol. 5, No. 10

This edition contains three novelettes and four short stories, all of which appeared in the earlier American publication of Thrilling Western dated March, 1949. The same cover art was used for both.

The British edition begins with the novelet Haunted Forest by Bradford Scott and is one of sixty-five plus tales that appeared in the pulps starring Texas Ranger Walt Slade who is also known as El Halcon (The Hawk). Slade keeps his identity a secret as he takes on a spectre in a fight for lumber lands. As usual Slade is really good at figuring out what is going on and solves everything with ease. This tale was filled with action, although it was slowed down a little when Slade explained how a hydraulic ram worked which I thought went on too long and became tedious. This was an entertaining story as have been other Walt Slade tales I've read. Bradford Scott is a pseudonym used by A. Leslie Scott.

Next came the short story Red Creek Showdown by Peter B. Germano writing as Barry Cord. Lin Peters has to face death as he tries to figure out who’s trying to stop him driving a stage and why. Like in many tales by Germano this one has a couple of neat twists, although the main reason as to why the culprit wants to stop the stage isn’t explained, it’s just left for the reader to decide. Very enjoyable, but could leave some readers frustrated. 

Novelet Six-Guns Sing at Night by John H. Latham is the third tale. I believe this is the authors real name and that he also wrote for the pulps as Tom Brand too.  Peter Weaver blames the death of his dad on Big Joe Brady but has never been able to prove it. The truth comes out when rancher Lon Gentry springs a trap to capture Brady who he accuses of being a rustler. There are some nice moments of humour in this tale and this was my favourite story in this issue and it left me eager to try some more of Latham’s work.

Trouble Talk takes just over three pages to tell. It’s written by Tex Holt, which is a house name, and I’ve not been able to discover who the real author is. This is the story of Sheriff Bill Lowell of Cottonwood, a man who didn’t think he needed a deputy as he hunts for a killer known as the Gray Ghost. It has a twist ending that was easy to work out, but the tale did hold my attention throughout.

Another short story follows, this one being Death Grins in Moonlight by Dupree Poe. Poe is the authors real name and he also wrote pulp tales as Roger Rhodes. This is the most gruesome story of all those in this issue and I was quite surprised by how graphic it was, especially during a vicious attack on a wolf. This animal will eventually get its revenge as it helps bring a scoundrel to retribution. Perhaps a little far fetched but it certainly made for an excellent ending that left me curious to try more of Poe’s tales.

The Doordevil of Humpwallips is a novelet by Sly MacDowell, which is the author’s real name, and it stars his series characters Swap and Whopper in a whole load of trouble as they get tagged as oyster pirates. I don’t think I’ve read any other stories about oyster rustling, so that added an interesting angle to the tale. The setting is a bit more modern than the other stories as people drive trucks whilst others ride horses. There’s some fun humour sprinkled throughout as Swap and Whooper try to talk themselves out of trouble only to dig themselves in deeper. I won’t be rushing to read another tale about Swap and Whooper but I won’t skip another story when I pick up another pulp that contains a tale featuring them. As far as I can tell they appeared in 73 pulp tales and I have four or five more in my collection.

The final tale is the short story Six-Gun Jamboree by Lew Martin. This is a pseudonym shared by Norman A. Daniels and Donald Bayne Hobart, but I’ve not been able to discover which of them wrote this. Lasting one and a half pages there’s not a great deal of plot to get your teeth into as two life-long friends suddenly become foes over a lady. 

Overall, I found this to be a very readable issue of Thrilling Western that has introduced me to a couple of authors I’d like to read more of.