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. 

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. 

Thrilling Western May 1958

British edition, Vol. 9, No. 12

Contents:

Featured Novelette

Holdup at Stony Flat

By Clair Huffaker

Taw was being framed, Christine warned . . . but how could he believe a woman who had already betrayed her own husband?

Short Stories

To the Last Man

By Ben Frank

A man should be ready to shoot, if need be, to uphold his family’s honor . . . but Johnny had to have a better reason before he could kill.

Track the Man Down

By Robert J. Hogan

Grace was all the things Vermilion Smith wanted in a woman . . . and the sister of the man he had to shoot on sight.

Fair Warning

By Larry Powell

To Dave Morris, there was a right and a wrong way to act . . . even if doing the right thing meant he would have to kill a man.

As far as I understand it, Thrilling Western continued in the UK after its original American run came to an end. This is one of those later issues. Were the stories written for the UK publication? Nope, they are taken from other American pulps, namely Ranch Romances. The first three stories all coming from the April 1957 issue of Ranch Romances and the final tale from the November 1956 issue. 

I’ve included the cover of the April 1957 issue of Ranch Romances as it shows how the cover art has also been re-used too, or at least a new version of it painted – if you look at them closely, you’ll see there are a number of differences between the two. 

But what of the stories themselves? I’ve read work by three of these authors before, the odd one out being Larry Powell. Ben Frank (r.n. Frank Bennett) I’ve only read in a similar pulp, whilst the other two I’ve read in full length books and greatly enjoyed, so I was really looking forward to trying some of their earlier work.

I found all four tales to be entertaining reads, but did enjoy those by Huffaker and Hogan more than the other two. I do wonder if this is because Frank and Powell’s tales are much shorter so their storylines weren’t as complex. Hogan’s tale had the most memorable ending for me due to its hard-hitting nature. To say all these tales came from a publication with romance in the title I did wonder whether they would be more of a love story than an action packed western but this wasn’t the case. Yes, all the tales have some element of romance but they are traditional westerns filled with twisting plots and plenty of gunplay. On the strength of these four stories, I’ll certainly be on the lookout for more work by all the authors.

I have quite a few western pulps and my enjoyment of this one has me eager to read some more as they certainly contain some first-class western entertainment. 

It would be remiss for me not to add some further comments about the Huffaker novelette, Holdup at Stony Flat. This would later become a full-length novel under the title of Badman which was published in 1958, the year after it first appeared in its original shorter form. Later, in 1962, Huffaker wrote a screenplay based on Badman and in 1967 the film The War Wagon was released, directed by Burt Kennedy, it starred John Wayne and Kirk Douglas. Later publications of the book saw it have a name change to The War Wagon. 

Although I have the full-length book version, I’ve never read it, so what has been added to lengthen the tale I couldn’t say. It’s also been many years since I saw the film and I don’t remember much about it, but from what I can gather it differs quite significantly after the opening scene which closely portrays the start of the original short-story.

Trail of the Snake

By Norvell Page

Black Dog Books, 2011

For millions of readers, the name Norvell Page is synonymous with the pulse-pounding, red-hot adventures of The Spider. Years before he was guiding The Spider, Page was turning out dozens of short mysteries and Westerns.

Here, collected in paperback for the first time, are all of Norvell Page’s known Western works, including his first fiction sale, “Corralled.”

Trail of the Snake is another beautifully produced book from Black Dog Books. Sandwiched between an entertaining introduction by Bill Crider, and an informative look at Norvell Page’s history written by Tom Roberts we have five stories that originally appeared in the pulps during the 1930s, the last three tales being published under the pseudonym of N. Wooten Poge.

Contents:

Trail of the Snake

Secret Guns

Brand of the Cougar

Hell’s Backtrail

Corralled

Three of the stories are about lawmen bringing down outlaws and the other two have revenge as the main storyline. They are very fast moving and packed with action and colourful characters. Two of the stories are from Spicy Western Magazine, so have a number of attractive women in them that all seem to lose their clothes at some point. (The other three stories appeared in Masked Rider Western Magazine, Thrilling Western, and Western Trails) Some of the stories contain neat twists, a couple of which I didn’t anticipate, which in turn provide some neat outcomes to the tales.

Norvell Page’s writing stands-up well today and is very readable. Of course his use of words is of the times and his dialogue is of the period too, for instance horses are often referred to as “fuzz-tails” and characters speak thus: “Lift yore hands, yuh murderin’ kiyote! I’d jest admire a chance to drill yuh!”

If I haven’t convinced you that this book is worth reading then let me finish with Bill Crider’s quote from the back of the book: “Page’s Western tales are pure fun, filled with smoking guns, thundering hooves, and beautiful women…. If entertainment in the grand pulp style is what you’re looking for, you’ve surely come to the right place.”