Street & Smith's WESTERN ADVENTURE - Feb. 1957

 

Street & Smith’s WESTERN ADVENTURE
British Edition, February 1957, Vol. 1, No. 8
Cover art by H.W. Scott

As far as I can tell, most, if not all, the stories published in the 43 issues of the British pulp Street & Smith’s Western Adventure were originally published in the American pulp Street & Smith’s Western Story, of which there were over 2,000 editions. 

The cover art was altered a bit for the British pulp but this is restricted to the text so a new title could be incorporated. I’ve included an image of the original at the end of this review, with a list of the story titles and notes on where they were first published – as you’ll see they don’t all come from a single issue of Western Story.

All of the yarns in the February 1957 edition are short stories, all seven or eight pages in length. Also mixed in are five columns; Where to Go and How to Get There by John North, Mines and Mining by J.A. Thompson, Range Savvy by H. Fredric Young, Guns and Gunners by Phil Sharpe, The Roundup – author unknown. 

The opening story is Doomed Cargo by Norman A. Fox. This is a tale about a young riverboat deck sweeper who learns how to stand-up for himself when he finds the courage and initiative, he didn’t know he had, to thwart an attempt to steal the riverboat’s cargo and kill everyone onboard. I’ve only read a couple of other stories by Fox, and this is the most enjoyable so far, perhaps because I like riverboat tales.  

Hot-Lead Headliners by John Colohan is next. I’ve not read anything by him before so was interested to sample his work. The story involved committing murder to cover up a previous killing. A drunk newspaper man overhears the bad guys plotting this new assassination attempt and knows he must do something to stop it happening. How he does this adds intrigue to the tale. Colohan also has a neat surprise waiting to be revealed at the end. Colohan’s tale proved to be a fun read. 

Track Treachery by E.C. Lincoln is set in modern times and is about horse racing. Why would a leading horse suddenly turn and head to the side of the track and thus lose the race? I was intrigued enough to want to know the answer to that question so I struggled through the story to find out. The writing style didn’t click with me and I very nearly gave up with it. I probably would have done so had it been any longer. 

After the disappointing pervious story, I was hoping that Murder Gun by B. Bristow Green would be better and I got my wish. This is a bank robbery tale where an innocent stranger to town gets accused of being one of the hold-up men. His capture leads to a make-shift court being set up that provides some tense scenes and a neat twist. I’ve never read anything by B. Bristow Green before and this story left me eager to explore more of his work.  

Easy Does It by C.K. Shaw is the first of three stories she wrote that featured Windy Bill Wicks. I’ve seen a note saying that this tale was originally published as East Does It, but I think the U.K. title is correct as Wicks is told to take things easy more than once. In fact, the opening words are “Easy Windy.” The story is written in the first person and involves two sets of ranch hands at loggerheads with each other over a couple of slashed saddles and a knife that is found beside them. Of course, the knife owner says it wasn’t him and the knife was stolen. Proving this is what the story is about. This was another difficult to read tale due to its old-fashioned style. It was an ok story but didn’t make me want to read the other Windy Bill tales or any more of Chloe Kathleen Shaw work.

The next story was much better than the previous one. White Water Run by Hugh B. Cave is about a Mountie tracking down a murderer. It contains some gripping scenes of canoe travel through treacherous waters, surprises and a neat twist to the end. This was by far my favourite story in this issue of Western Adventure. 

The final tale is Dead Man’s Horse by J. Lane Linklater in which a man has to make a choice of whether to hinder or help the law. Whichever way he chooses will mean a change to the way of life he has known which sees his word ruling the lives of those that live in and near Quiet Gulch. People can be safe there, whether good or bad as long as there aren’t any killings. Then a body is found… Linklater’s story is fast-paced and gripping and even though events play out as I expected I still found it to be a fun read.

For me, this issue of Western Adventure proved to be a patchy read in terms of quality of storytelling but the good far outweighed the bad. I’d only read stories by one of the authors before (Norman A. Fox) and have now added a couple more authors to my want to read more of list. 

Doomed Cargo by Norman A. Fox – originally published in Street & Smith’s Western Story, January 1941

Hot-Lead Headlines by John Colohan – original publication unknown

Track Treachery by E.C. Lincoln – originally published in Street & Smith’s Western Story, January 1941

Murder Gun by B. Bristow Green – originally published in Street & Smith’s Western Story, December 1942

Easy Does It by C.K. Shaw – Street & Smith’s Western Story, December 1942 

White Water Run by Hugh B. Cave – originally published in Street & Smith’s Western Story, February 1942

Dead Man’s Horse by J. Lane Linklater – originally published in Street & Smith’s Western Story, February 1942

WESTERN ADVENTURE October 1958

WESTERN ADVENTURE October 1958

British Edition Vol 3, No. 4

The four tales to be found in this British edition of Western Adventure were all originally published in the American pulp Western Story, Vol. 196, No. 5, January 1942. The cover art was done by H.W. Scott but whether he redid it or someone else copied it for the British edition I don’t know. If you study both covers, you’ll see many subtle changes. You can view the American cover at the end of this post.

The first yarn, and featured novelette is Wolf of the Toltecs by Philip Ketchum. This is the much-used landgrab story, with one man, Ben Broadman seeking vengeance on those who killed his friends. It’s a tough tale that sees Broadman become a wanted man and he soon seems to care for nothing other than getting his revenge, no matter who gets hurt along the way. It also seems the story can only end with Broadman’s death. I enjoyed reading this tale, although the ending was a bit of a let down for my tastes – I’d have preferred a much harder hitting conclusion. I will, however, be seeking out another of Ketchum’s tales to try soon.

H.A. DeRosso was the author of short story Death Stacks the Deck. This has a wonderfully dark atmosphere, and was the second entry in this pulp that seemed to be heading for a downbeat ending. Ex-gambler Harvey Howell sees the only way to payoff his ranch is to play one last game and loses his home in a crooked game. Howell is then offered a chance to reclaim his ranch by playing another game to cheat the biggest rancher in the area out of his ranch. What doesn’t sit well is the fact that this rancher’s daughter is Howell’s wife. Cheating also goes against all of Howell’s beliefs. With all hope gone Howell plays the game and wins. After this the author includes a small twist that, like in the Ketchum novelette, turned things around in a way that gave the tale a happy ending that didn’t seem to fit the rest of the tone of the story to me. Having said that, the ending won’t stop me reading more of DeRosso’s work.

Rodeo Reckoning by Seth Ranger – which is a pseudonym used by Frank Richardson Pierce – came next. This short story is about a rodeo champion who wants to retire and run a horse ranch, but finds himself back competing to prove he’s still the greatest. That is about the entire plot and it worked out exactly as you’d expect. In fact, I got bored with it half-way through and decided to speed-read it to the end. If it had been longer than ten pages, I’d have probably not finished it.

The last short story was Hep Meets the New Year by Glenn H. Wichman. Wichman wrote 65 tales featuring Hep and this was the first time I’d read one. Hep decides to make some new year resolutions and gets four other people to do so too. The question is will any of them stick to these decisions? This is a comedy western, its light-hearted tone was fine, and it contained a couple of slap-stick situations at the end. Covering twelve pages was enough for me though as it didn’t have enough plot to hold my attention and I’m not sure I’ll be reading the other Hep Gallegher stories I have in my collection any time soon. 

There are also two factual features by Jim West, that I didn’t bother reading.

I’m hoping to try and read pulps more often as there are certainly some gems to be found within them. 

Western Adventure, October 1957

Street & Smith's

WESTERN ADVENTURE

British Edition Vol. 2 - #4

Contents:

Featured Novelette:

Driftin’ Cowhand by Walt Coburn

When Rafe Joplin’s tough-hand outfit drove away a cavvy of rustled horses across the Missouri, Bass Jackson knew his life depended on the trigger savvy of that Driftin’ Cowhand.

Range Hogs Can Die by Wayne D. Overholser

With nesters invading Redstone Valley, even Hugh Latham’s six-gun rep couldn’t keep the lid on a cattle-sheep feud.

Boothill Cargo by Norman A. Fox

Doc Comanche wasn’t checking off that counterfeit dinero as a dead loss until he collected hot-lead toll.

Deadline for a Deputy by Frank Richardson Pierce

Tony Baxter had three strikes against him when he made a baseball player pinch-hit as a deputy and take the trail of Wideawake Jackson.

Showdown at Sundown by Richard Poole

Without chips to buck a high-stake poker game, Kerry Lantham gambled his life on blistering Colt aces.

Published a number of years before I was born, I found this pulp to be a mixed bag for my tastes. My favourite story was Boothill Cargo. Doc Comanche being an entertaining lead character, one I believe stars in a number of pulp tales by Norman A. Fox and I’ll certainly be hunting through my collection to see if I have any others. The fact I liked the story the most surprised me as a previous pulp story I’ve read by Fox didn’t inspire me that much.

Of the remaining stories I liked Showdown at Sundown best, then Range Hogs, and then the featured novelette Driftin’ Cowhand – I thought this one went on a bit too long.

Deadline for a Deputy I gave up on, mainly due to all the references to baseball, a game I’m not familiar with in any way at all due to it not being that popular here in England. Still I don’t expect to like all the stories these old pulps contain.

Overall this issue of Western Adventure has left me eager to try another one soon.

Western Adventure, Nov. 1957

Street & Smith’s

WESTERN ADVENTURE
British Edition, Vol. 2, #5,

November 1957.

Contents:
Featured Novelette:
Hoodoo Howdy – by Bob Carol
Short Stories:
Texans Pay Their Debts – by Ray Nafziger
Gun-smoke Grandstander – by Norman A. Fox
Grizzly Revenge – by George Cory Franklin
Dead Men Can Ride – by Mojave Lloyd

Not having read anything by these authors before, and only having heard of one, Norman A. Fox, I didn’t know what to expect from this collection. As I thought, though, there are stories/writers I enjoyed and those that didn’t inspire me to hunt out any more of their work.

I was surprised at how much Bob Carol managed to fit into his story of sabotage in the coal mining industry, there was plenty of action, twists, and he also manages to develop a love plotline too. Even though the traitor was easy to work out I found this to be a satisfying and entertaining read.

The next two stories were both readable with Norman A Fox providing the better of the two for me, although the ending hammered home a moral with too much force for my liking.

Grizzly Revenge was a little too unbelievable to me, I just found it stretching credibility to much for me, as I don’t believe two growing grizzly cubs would befriend man and be happy living in a cabin and eating a couple of slices of bacon at mealtimes.

The final story I gave up reading as I found it hard to follow and just didn’t want to take the time trying to work out what the characters were saying, far to much of this kind of thing: “An’ what’re ye wantin’ with all the dinnymite anyhow, ye impident spalpeen?” and “I might have stumick ulsters.”

After the stories there are three short factual articles on guns, outdoor cooking, and iron.

Overall I find these old pulp westerns fun to delve into between reading books, as they often contain some hidden gems.