The Complete Guide to Manhunt Part 14

A note to our faithful readers: By now you've noticed a few hiccups in our regularly scheduled programming. No Matheson last Sunday, No Health Knowledge on Wednesday, and the following, a one-issue Guide to Manhunt. Work, Holidays, and Life have all intruded this last week and probably will do so next week. We hope to return you to our regular slate after New Year's. (Because then all we'll have to do is a daily Outer Limits review. Oh wait—  JS) Thanks for being patient and big thanks from John and I to Jack Seabrook and Larry Rapchak for providing some entertainment whilst we take a breather.

Continuing an issue by issue examination of the greatest crime digest of all time.

by Peter Enfantino

Vol. 2 No. 7 September 1954

144 pages, 35 cents

Cover by Michael

The Witness by John Sabin

(3000 words) ** illo: Houlihan

Mark Hagan begins to question the merits of being a good samaritan. He witnesses the murderous Earl Splade gun down a man in cold blood and reports it to the police. Now, it seems the police can’t protect Mark from the murderer, who’s back on the streets in no time. Abrupt but satisfying climax. This was Sabin’s only appearance in Manhunt or any crime magazine for that matter.

Bedbug by Evan Hunter

(1000 words) *

A paranoid husband interrogates his mad wife. Or is it the other way around? When does a 1200 word short story feel like a 120,000 word novel? When it’s filled with dreadful dialogue and a story that is going nowhere. This story and “Association Test” (from V. 2 N. 5) prove that Evan Hunter needs a few more words to get his groove going.

State Line by Sam S. Taylor

(6500 words) *** illo: Houlihan

Linoleum salesman rolls into Vegas and is immediately smitten with a rich beauty. Like most Manhunt dames, this one’s got something up her sleeve. She’s got an old hubby who’s become a burden and now she’s searching for a way to become a rich widow. What seems to be heading down the path of a Fred MacMurray film veers down a dirt road to something completely different. This would have made a nice episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (it is slightly reminiscent of the classic “One More Mile to Go” from the second season of AHP).

Night Watch by Jonathan Craig

(4500 words) ** illo: Dick Francis

Sergeants Sharber and Curran, Homicide, 9th Precinct, catch a strange case: the man’s been shot in the head and when they dig further they find kiddy porn and heroin. Luckily for the detectives, the murderer falls right into their hands and confesses. This must have the most abrupt ending I’ve ever come across. I literally searched the magazine for a “Continued from page 42” but my copy is lacking any such closure.

Tin Can by B. Traven

(4000 words) ***1/2 Illo: Tom O’Sullivan

Natalio Salvatorres is looking for a wife and finds her in Filomena Gallardo, a young peasant whose father is only too happy to sell her for a new pair of pants and a few bottles of tequila. Moving to a mining town to find work, Natalio is happy in his new life until one day he finds his wife has run off with another man. Seeking revenge, Natalio crafts an explosive in a tin can and heads for the hut where his wife is attending a party. Unfortunately for Natalio, the only person killed in the blast is a friend of Filomena’s:

The occupants of the hut saw the bomb and jumped out of the hut without even taking the time for a shout of horror. This took them less than half a second. At once a terrific explosion followed, sending the hut up a hundred feet in the air. Of the six people who had been inside, five escaped without so much as a scratch. The sixth, the young woman of the couple that owned the hut, was not so fortunate. This woman had, at the very moment the bomb made its appearance at the party, been busy making fresh coffee in the corner of the hut farthest from the door. She had neither seen the bomb nor noted the rapid and speechless departure of her guests. Consequently she accompanied the hut on its trip upward. And since she had been unable in so short a time to decide which part of the hut she would like best to travel with, she landed at twenty different places in the vicinity.

As you can tell from that passage, this is a dark comedy. “Tin Can” gets even wittier when Natalio faces trial for his crime.

B. Traven was the author of Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1927), The Rebellion of the Hanged (1936), and several other acclaimed novels. His life and identity were something of a mystery. According to his Manhunt bio, not even his agent knew his true identity.

Ambition by Patrick Madden

(1500 words) ***

The cops have a cold-blooded killer dead to rights but the murderer seems almost happy they do. For such a short story, this is an effective commentary on what someone will do to achieve that “15 minutes.”

A Moment’s Notice by Jerome Weidman

(9000 words) **** illo: Houlihan

Dr. Holcomb, eighty years old, realizes he hasn’t much time left but before he goes he must atone for a sin his son committed ten years earlier, an evil act Dr. Holcomb helped cover up for fear of scandal. When a similar situation rears its ugly head and his son is again the villain, the doctor finds a way to make peace with himself. Or does he?

Though I have problems with the logic the doctor shows in solving his problem at the climax, this is a riveting story. Too often, I’ve found when a big name drops in to the Manhunt headquarters, they seldom deliver. Here’s a case of the big name delivering and then some. A passage, referring to Holcomb’s son, Robert, might well be prescient of today’s celebrities and their various foibles:

How did one deal with the wicked who were ignorant of the meaning of wickedness, with the sinner who had no conception of sin? The only occasion on which Robert seemed to be aware that he had done anything the world condemned came at the moments when he was caught.

Jerome Weidman (1913-1998) is best known for his Great Depression novel, I Can Get It for You Wholesale (1937) and for co-writing the Joan Crawford vehicle, The Damned Don’t Cry (1950).

Every Morning by Richard Marsten

(1500 words) ** illo: Houlihan

A governess plays cruel games with her hired help every morning until he can take it no more and violence ensues.

Some Things Never Change by Robert Patrick Wilmot

(2500 words) * illo: Tom O’Sullivan

Kerrigan flies back to England to reclaim the love he lost during the Second World War. She’s got other plans for the sap. But is he a sap? A first: 500 words of set-up, 2000 words of expository. Outrageous and clunky expository to boot!

The Empty Fort by Basil Heatter

(14,500 words) *** illo: Houlihan

Flake, captain of the Jezebel, is hired by Mangio to haul in tons of shrimp. Flake is the best at his business, he knows it, and demands a larger cut from Mangio. Not one to take insubordination, Mangio hires shipmate Cutter to kill Flake and make it look like an accident. Cutter knocks Flake overboard during a nasty storm but the captain is from the “die hard” school and survives long enough to be rescued by a passing boat. Exciting sea adventure, reminiscent of Charles Williams’ novels, with a violent finale at the titular structure.

The son of radio broadcaster Gabriel Heatter, Basil Heatter was the author of several novels including The Dim View (Signet, 1948), Sailor’s Luck (Lion, 1953), The Mutilators (GM, 1962), Virgin Cay (Gold Medal, 1963), Harry and the Bikini Bandits (GM, 1971) and two adventures of Tim Devlin, marine insurance man, The Golden Stag and Devlin’s Triangle (both Pinnacle, 1976). Mugged and Printed mentions an upcoming Lion novel called Powder Snow. This was retitled Act of Violence for publication in 1954. Heatter’s novels accentuated the adventure whether it be icy mountain tops (Act of Violence), ships wrecked (Virgin Cay), or gun smuggling in Europe (The Mutilators).

The Promise by Richard Welles

(1000 words) *

Nothing more than the outline for a short story about a cop who goes after his brother, wanted for murder.

Mugged and Printed features Jerome Weidman, Basil Heatter, B. Traven, and Sam S. Taylor.

Also this issue: Vincent H. Gaddis’ Crime Cavalcade, Dan Sontup’s Portrait of a Killer #13: Leon Peltzer, and What’s Your Veridict #2 by Sam Ross (The Uncooperative Wife).

Further reading:

Basil Heatter

B. Traven

Interplanetary Episode: The Sequel!

by Larry Rapchak

In late 2002, while attempting to learn more about the mysterious artist Kenneth Landau, I discovered that "Interplanetary Episode's" appearance in January of 1960 was NOT its first; it had, in fact, served as the cover story of ACG's Adventures into the Unknown #61 (Jan-Feb 1955) which was, I believe, the final pre-code issue of this particular title.

And here's the original splash-panel, drawn (and signed) by Kenneth Landau in late 1954. Compare and contrast with the 1960 version shown in part one.

Was the roulette-wheel thing a part of Landau's original drawing, or was it grafted on later? The "wheel of fate" idea mentioned in the text has very little bearing on the story, and it was eliminated in the 1960 version. But Landau's crackling lightning and millions of little scratch-marks for the background give us a preview of the crazy, out-of-kilter feel of the story.

However, things get really interesting upon discovering that most of the 1955 version's crucial plot set-up—the brutal mistreatment of the simpleton Simon by the townsfolk—has been entirely altered from what one sees in the 1960 version! Yes, totally re-drawn by another artist and, oddly, softened a great deal in its emotional impact!

That's right—the Pre-Code version of the story as it appeared in January, 1955 was much more mild and inoffensive than its CODE-era reissue in January, 1960!

Here are a few samples which illustrate these changes along with a bit of a spoiler (as if anyone is going to run out and track this thing down): the climatic outcome of the story is the result of Simple Simon's gradual realization that the people of Earth are, in fact, basically cruel and not worthy of salvation. Thus, the entire plot hinged on our seeing Simon's kindly nature and trust in humanity ultimately destroyed by his personal encounters with the evil townspeople.

So here, in 1955, are a few re-drawn panels from page 2 which illustrate some of these encounters; Simon first rushes to the aid of a stereotypical Italian hot-dog vendor, who has made the mistake of peddling his wares in front of the local butcher shop. The butcher, being a jerk, goes berserk and knocks over the vendor's cart (big deal), as Simon rather sanctimoniously comments: "Folks are good... even if they don't think sometimes." (Oi!) Next, Simon happens upon a big thug stealing a lunch box from a little kid. Again, big deal.

But here are the same two panels, as seen in the 1960 version:



A few things leap out at the reader. The artwork of these two panels is on an entirely different stylistic plane than the first version above; they were obviously drawn by Landau. This meant that the version published in 1960 contained Landau's original artwork. The panel on the right is an example of the artist's quintessentially creepy, sardonic, cartoon-y stylization of his characters, recalling the famous tragic/comic masks that represent opposite poles of human nature. At this point early on in the story, you're not quite sure if you're supposed to be laughing at the main character or not.....

As the 1955 version progresses, (page 3 of the story) Simon finds a wallet which he intends to return to its rightful owner. Problem is, those nasty townsfolk spy him with the wallet, assume he's the one who stole it, and are instantaneously transformed into a lynch mob. In a very one-dimensional, contrived way, this sequence establishes Simon as a sympathetic (and a fully rational, seemingly normal) guy whose only quirk is that he happens to look like a bum.

BUT WHEN THE STORY APPEARED IN 1960, HERE's how the plight of the pathetic Simple Simon unfolds... in Landau's original panels from the same position on page 3:



Here, Simon's "folks are good..." line, spoken to his little 4-legged pal, acquires a whole new sense of pathos. I can't begin to describe the way that this portion of the story left me stricken... for lack of a better word.... numb... when I first read it. Landau's (and the author's) original conception of Simon as helpless, pitiful, and intellectually primitive reaches far deeper into the conscience of the reader than does the silly attempt to sanitize the story in its 1954-55 re-write.

AND HERE, back in 1955, is the final panel of Simon's interaction with the townsfolk, just prior to the first appearance of the aliens:

CONTRASTED with the 1960 version of the same panel, another Landau image that fried my poor young mind:


From this point on in both the '55 and '60 versions, the stories are identical, except for a couple of flashback panels near the end, as Simon recalls his encounters with the residents of Miller's Gap.




A few thoughts, questions, etc:

1.) I'm not particularly knowledgeable about the comics industry; I'm aware of the major controversy which led to the establishment of the Comics Code, and I'm sure that the turmoil during the 1952-54 period left publishers to deal with the impending censorship in any number of ways (the E.C. "New Direction" titles, for instance). I assume that the reworking of "The World That Was" after Landau had completed it was one of many examples of a publisher's last-ditch attempt to placate the incoming Code regime.

2.) It's fascinating to observe the ludicrously bad attempt to match the artistic style of the 1954 re-drawn panels (I'm certain that ACG staffer Ogden Whitney was the culprit) with Landau's unique originals. One assumes that the re-written/re-drawn work was done quickly, and that Landau was not available (or perhaps unwilling) to revise his original work.

3.) Also intriguing is the fact that, under the incoming new Code guidelines, the entire story should have been scrapped, since the alien plot and the final outcome of the story were considerably stronger than anything that would be sanctioned during the ensuing period of censorship. However, in salvaging the story for publication, the folks at ACG knew exactly which specific panels had to be jettisoned---those which depicted the brutal treatment of the retarded main character at the hands of the vicious townsfolk. And I am living proof of the effect of those images upon a sensitive young mind...when they were finally published six years later.

4.) How bizarre is it that ACG chose to publish Landau's ORIGINAL, UN-EDITED artwork in 1960!!? WHY??? If, say, they were behind schedule and needed to fill the issue with a previously published story, why in heck would they not simply reprint the "softer" 1955 version with the Whitney redrawn panels?? Why would they choose to unleash the raw, disturbing ORIGINAL Landau images on an unsuspecting Code-era readership that had been lulled into accepting the "horror-lite" material of the day?

I realize that the case of "The World That Was/Interplanetary Episode" wouldn't even register as a miniscule speck on today's comic consciousness...but it sure is fascinating. As far as I am aware, virtually nothing is known of artist Kenneth Landau, who was but one of a sizable stable of artists cranking out their work as part of the thriving comic book industry way, way back in the early 1950's; I would imagine that, barring some sort of extremely lucky break, very little will ever come to light about Landau himself... and certainly nothing about the bizarre and unsettling story that has served as the topic for this article.

In retrospect, I'm sure that, had I seen them, the typical pre-code comic book skeletons, vampires and zombies would have freaked me out in a fairly predictable way. But nothing could have prepared me for the effect of Landau's pathetic, emaciated simpleton—those skeletal, black eye-sockets weeping tears of grief over his mangy little pooch, just prior to his being pounded by his tormentors; you would have expected that vicious punch from the neanderthal farmer to have pulverized the poor kid into dust and blown him away along the dirt roads of Miller's Gap, Kansas, for all his life was worth; it's so damned upsetting. But, luckily for Simon, things would change dramatically when those repugnant yet noble aliens appeared. And even though, from that point on, the story brightens considerably, I could never begin to shake the emotional trauma of the opening scenes, so devastatingly effective were they rendered.

A powerful and deeply disturbing experience for me, one that fascinates and frightens me more than 50 years later.

Author's Note: I would love to hear from anyone who has any insights into this story and/or artist Ken Landau (no, he was NOT Martin Landau in his pre-acting days, as was sometimes rumored). With the non-stop pressure/deadlines under which the the comics industry operated, I'd be surprised if the story-line of "The World That Was/Interplanetary Episode" was original; it was probably "adapted" from an existing story, or perhaps patched together from more than one. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Larry Rapchak

Interplanetary Episode

by Larry Rapchak

In retrospect, I am very thankful that I never encountered any EC comics when I was a kid; I was way too impressionable, and would have probably ended up in kiddie therapy had I come across Ingels, Davis, Craig, etc from the early 50's. Luckily, I was too young to have seen them first-hand, for by the time I reached comic book age, things were well into the Comics Code era.

My parents were not really disposed towards filling my 9-year old mind with monsters, aliens, etc, but for some unknown reason, they began bringing home comics—3 per week, every Friday morning—in late 1959. Harmless stuff: House of Mystery, World's Finest, Challengers of the Unknown.... standard DC fare. Occasionally a pre-super hero Marvel—the great Kirby Giant Monster cover stories with the brilliant Ditko fantasy in the back. And I handled it all with no problem.

But on Friday, January 29th, 1960, I hit a wall. A free day from my Catholic school's 3rd-grade regimen, my siblings and I were looking forward to a fun, relaxing 3-day weekend. My mother made her usual Friday morning trip to the local Kroger's, where she randomly chose 3 comics from the store's carousel. I remember sitting at the kitchen table, TV on, preparing to eat lunch, as my brother and sister and I passed the new comics around for a quick look. One of the new trio was Detective Comics #277 (the silly "The Jigsaw Creature from Outer Space"), the 2nd one I can't remember, and the third a title that was new to us: ACG's Forbidden Worlds #86, with a not-too-interesting Schaffenberger cover showing an army machine-gunner fighting off a flying saucer against a bright yellow sky. I paged through it quickly....standard stuff of the day: friendly aliens who help humans, a tale of a nerdy guy who goes back to prehistoric times and becomes a hero, etc.... and then I came face to face with the splash panel of the issue's final story, and without really realizing why, I froze. Here's what I saw:

Years later I discovered that the creator of this bizarre image was named Kenneth Landau, a seemingly run-of-the-mill guy from the early 50's pre-code era whose rather sketchy, scratchy work managed to convey a sinister, troubling sort of caricature for lack of a better word which still strikes me as very creepy in an odd way... like a bad dream that haunts you in a way that's difficult to describe.

This story, with the oddly-generic title "Interplanetary Episode" begins at its ending, actually.... with the fiery destruction of Earth, but then begins to flashback in a rather somber, moralistic way. Here's the third panel, the funereal, Catholic-style calm warning me not to continue to read on:

But, I was lost....and as I made my way through the story, I felt this creeping, crawling, debilitating sense of dread begin to grip me (this is not hyperbole). For here was a tale of a rural, hick town with its own pathetic village idiot, a clownish, teenaged scarecrow of a guy named Simon, who was routinely tormented by the crude, low-brow inhabitants of Miller's Gap, Kansas. Ultimately, we meet a scouting group of incredibly bizarre aliens...whose own planet is nearing destruction (thus necessitating--guess what?--- their take-over of another inhabitable planet). But, despite this threadbare plot device, there is a neat twist; for these aliens, despite their hideous appearance, are basically benevolent, and refuse to destroy the inhabitants of another planet...as long as said inhabitants exhibit a modest level of intelligence.

Kenneth Landau's amazingly repugnant alien (they each have four arms, too).

So guess what tiny, backwoods town the aliens land in, and guess WHO happens to be wandering around in the middle of the night and gets himself captured and examined as a representative specimen of the human race in order for the aliens to decide whether or not to obliterate Earth's population? It's a terrific story, which could easily stand on its own as a sophisticated, in-depth critique of the nature of humanity, the sort of thing that the Outer Limits would do so well. If only Joe Stefano and friends had come across this tale in 1963....

Anyway, the young Larry Rapchak was pretty much traumatized for the next few weeks after discovering this story; a real lost cause emotionally. But, even back then, I was puzzled by the stark difference between this story and all of the other Comics Code stuff we were then reading. How was this story allowed to appear in print under the stringent guidelines of the Code in early 1960?? It was far more dark and disturbing--driven home by the peculiar decayed look of Landau's characters—than anything that was being printed at the time. It continues to haunt me to this day.

16 years later, in May 1976, I came face-to-face with the story again when I found a copy of Forbidden Worlds #86 in a little Philadelphia used comic shop. What a reunion! I could look upon the story at last without experiencing that queasy, gnawing feeling that had almost sent me over the edge on 1/29/60.* And thus I filed my new-found copy of the comic away in my collection.

[*And how do I recall the exact date of the event so clearly? Easy. That same night, my mother, brother and I decided, against my better judgment, to check out the Twilight Zone, where we were treated to the network premiere of The Fever, with Everett Sloane and the marauding slot machine. I recall actually feeling as if I were in some sort of drug-induced stupor as I say down to watch, so upset was I from the effect of "Interplanetary Episode"; the TZ episode thus delivered the emotional coup de grace that finished off this traumatizing day].

BUT, MORE RECENTLY, THE FACTS SURROUNDING "Interplanetary Episode" HAVE BECOME MORE INTRIGUING.

To Be Continued!

The Complete Guide to Manhunt Part 13

by Peter Enfantino

Continuing an issue by issue examination of the greatest crime digest of all time.

Vol. 2 No. 5 July 1954

144 pages, 35 cents

Chinese Puzzle by Richard Marsten

(5000 words) ** illo: Tom O’Sullivan

A young Chinese girl goes into convulsions while doing her job as a phone solicitor and dies in front of her co-workers. Detectives Parker and Katz know strychnine poisoning when they see it. With the staccato dialogue and detailed procedural descriptions, it must have been fairly easy for those paying attention back in 1954 that Richard Marsten was a pseudonym for Ed McBain.

My Game, My Rules by Jack Ritchie

(2000 words) **1/2

Johnny takes a job from three desperate men. Since Johnny is an assassin, someone’s going to die, but the hit man’s mind may not be entirely on the target, but rather the target’s moll.

Association Test by Hunt Collins

(1000 words) * illo: Bill Ashman

Silly short-short about a psychiatrist and the word association test he conducts with his disturbed patient.

Two Grand by Charles Beckman, Jr.

(3500 words) *1/2

Doug Wallace flees L.A. after landing big debts with the mob. He heads for the hills where his brother, Jim, and wife, Sadie, live. Doug soon finds there’s quite a bit of sexual tension in the air. In an amusing conversation with his brother, Doug finds out why:

“The war was rough on a lot of guys,” (Jim) mumbled. “I guess I got no call to bitch. But why couldn’t I have gotten it some other way? I wouldn’t have minded losing an arm or a leg, Doug. You can still be a man with an arm or leg missin’. But not with – “ It gradually dawned on Doug what the hell his brother was talking about. His eyes opened wide. So – now he understood it. He remembered vaguely that Jim had gotten the Purple Heart for being shot in Korea. But now he knew where Jim had been shot.

“Two Grand” reads like the outline for one of those countless “Hill Tramp” backwoods novels that permeated the stands in the late 1950s. It’s rushed and ultimately unsatisfying.

The Judo Punch by V. E. Theissen

(1000 words) * illo: Tom O’Sullivan

A bent cop’s wife suspects a man is following her and asks her husband to instruct her in the deadly art of judo. Nonsensical climax asks the reader to fill in all the blanks.

Sanctuary by W. W. Hatfield

(1500 words) ** illo: Houlihan

Joe Varden has killed a prison guard and fled into the swamps to hide out with his cousin Pete and Pete’s wife, Ginny. After Joe falls for Ginny, he devises a plan so he can have his freedom and the beauty as well. This and “Two Grand” make two very similar and very similarly lackluster tales.

Return by Evan Hunter

(5000 words) ***

Matt Cordell is giving blood so he can raise booze money when he runs into old friend Sailor Simmons, who tells Matt some news: Matt’s ex-wife Trina is back in town. He would have found this news out sooner or later because soon after he returns to his homeless shelter, Trina shows up, begging Matt to take her back. After a three paragraph hesitation, Cordell takes her back only to find that there’s something up the ex’s sleeve.

A good, solid entry, the penultimate in the Matt Cordell series. The “return” of the title could refer to the return of Trina, the return of Matt’s self-respect (albeit briefly), or the return of his sobriety since, as we take leave of him, he’s still dry. But there is one more story to tell…

I Want a French Girl by James T. Farrell

(4000 words) *1/2

Lawrence has come from America to Paris because he wants a French girl. He finds them, fat ones, skinny ones, dull ones, but not the one he’s looking for. He’s convinced that French girls are better lovers but he’s finding it hard to get proof. But for one throwaway final paragraph, this has no business being in a “detective story monthly.” The “In This Issue” blurb on the back cover touts this “the story of a man with a single ambition, and of the way he was forced to fulfill it.”

The Innocent by Muriel Berns

(1000 words) * illo: Houlihan

Richard Leaman is brought up before a judge for rape and assault but Richard’s mother refuses to believe her son is anything but an angel.

Confession by John M. Sitan

(3000 words) ****

John Egan is a murderer. Not just any murderer. He takes his business seriously, with lots of preparation. His only motivation is “to insure the inclusion of my name in man’s history and memory.” Brutal serial sniper story is innovative long before the film Targets covered such ground. Sitan holds back no punches, here describing our first look at Egan’s handiwork:

John Egan adjusted the rifle’s telescopic sight again. It was quite easy to pick out the circle of light from the single lamp over the theatrical announcement plaque. The spot was a good target point. It was ten minutes after eleven and no one was about on the apartment house roof. He had counted eight persons crossing the circle of light. They had all been men. The ninth person was a woman. The white shoes and dress under a dark coat indicated she was a nurse. There was a young couple walking behind her. A policeman turned the corner. When the nurse reached the circle of light her head flew apart.

Or this bit where Sitan pulls us, whether we want to be pulled or not, down even farther into Egan’s twisted world:

He sighted on the junction again when he saw a woman and a little girl coming along. The girl was about five years old and wore a pink frilly dress. She was skipping a little ahead of the woman when she reached the junction. At that moment John Egan squeezed the trigger of his rifle. He watched the convulsive sideways jerk as the bullet thudded home. At his distance it appeared as if the child had stumbled. John did not look back until he had broken the sniper rifle down and put it in the trumpet case. When he did look back the woman was on her knees and screaming.

I must admit while I was reading that passage, I fully expected that action would be halted in some way or that he would take out the mother. I never expected Sitan to go the distance. Obviously, with snipers a part of our everyday world, “Confession” is even more relevant now than when it was written nearly sixty years ago. But further, the story examines the popularity of murder and the celebrity of evil.

Find a Victim by John Ross MacDonald

(20,500 words) *** illo: Tom O’Sullivan

Fifth and final appearance of Lew Archer in Manhunt. This time, Lew’s on his way to deliver a report on drug trafficking to legislation in Sacramento when he happens upon a bleeding man on the side of a deserted highway. The man dies soon after Archer delivers him to a hospital. Before long, the PI discovers that the town has quite a few skeletons in its familial closet. The plot feels second-hand (or even third-hand) but the writing crackles and keeps those pages turning, making even the obligatory conk on the head dazzling:

His fist came out from under the windbreaker,wearing something bright, and smashed at the side of my head. My legs forgot about me. I sat on the asphalt against the wall and looked at his armed right fist, a shining steel hub on which the night revolved. His face leaned over me, stark and glazed with hatred: “Bow down, God damn you… Bow down and kiss my feet”

another passage, after Lew takes a nasty tumble:

It was a long fall straight down through the darkness of my head. I was a middle-aging space cadet lost between galaxies and out of gas. With infinite skill and cunning I put a grain of salt on the tail of a comet and rode it back to the solar system. My back and shoulder were burned raw from the sliding fall. But it was nice to be home.

I still have problems with those cliched PI expositories (“Suddenly I knew everything that had happened so I gathered everyone in one room and told them how it went down”), but this one has enough dazzle to make me overlook the trappings. That same year, Knopf released an expanded version of "Find a Victim" in novel form.

Helping Hand by Arnold Marmor

(1000 words) **1/2

The DA can’t get to mob boss Gomez unless O’Hara sings but O’Hara says he’d rather fry in the electric chair than rat out Gomez. Nice twist elevates this above most short-shorts.

Mugged and Printed features bios on James T. Farrell, Evan Hunter, John Ross MacDonald, and Charles Beckman, Jr.

Also in this issue are Vincent H. Gaddis’ Crime Cavalcade, Dan Sontup’s Portrait of a Killer #11: Vernon Booher, and “Burglaries” by Fred L. Anderson (another non-fiction expose on crime).

Vol. 2 No. 6 August 1954

144 pages, 35 cents

Identity Unknown by Jonathan Craig

(4500 words) ** illo: Houlihan

The identity of a dead woman is traced through her fancy shoes. Very much like an 87th Precinct story.

Necktie Party by Robert Turner

(2500 words) * ½ illo: Francis

So a drunk walks into a bar and can’t get served… A wildly gory horror story about a disgruntled customer with a straight razor and plenty of flesh around him. Not a bad set-up when done right. This isn’t done right.

The Old Man’s Statue by R. Van Taylor

(3000 words) * ½ illo: Houlihan

What is the secret behind the young man who, day in and day out, wipes the profane graffiti away from a statue in the town square? The new owner of the town paper is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. Peyton Place pathos in a small Mississippi town with a climax right out of Friday the 13th. Two gory horror stories in one issue, in this case, is two too many.

Effective Medicine by B. Traven

(4000 words) *

An American doctor practicing in Mexico has a problem on his hands. A local villager wants the doctor to find his adulterous wife or the doctor will feel the sharp edge of the man’s machete.

Accident by John M. Sitan

(2000 words) ***

James Merrill has a strained relationship with his girlfriend, Gladys. They fight a lot. After one such argument, Gladys rushes out of the coffee shop they’re both in and into traffic. Merrill spends the rest of the story making life a hell for the unfortunate woman who ran down Gladys.

After hitting a home run last issue with “Confession,” I doubted author Sitan could come up with another but it’s a solid thought-provoker with a wallop of a climax. It gets the job done but I’d have liked to see it a bit longer. That may be because I enjoy the author’s prose. This is the last of the three stories Sitan wrote for Manhunt. Other than a few stories in some of the harder men’s magazines of the 1970s and 80s (Gem, The Swinger, and BUF (Big Up Front) Swinger), I can’t find a trace of his writing. Any detectives out there?

I Don’t Fool Around by Charles Jackson

(3000 words) **

George Burton is in love with the “new girl in town,” Lynette McCaffrey, a lovely little tart who thinks nothing of revving up George’s engine and then shutting it off at a moment’s notice, with a smile. Much like “I Want a French Girl,” this has no place in Manhunt. There’s only a threat of violence hinted at in the final paragraph. Nothing else makes this a crime story. I suspect it’s simply because Jackson was a “name author” at the time (as author of The Lost Weekend) and John McCloud would have taken anything from him. This wouldn’t be a very good story if it were in Saturday Evening Post.

Frame by Frank Kane

(9000 words) ***

Johnny Liddell finds himself in a bit of a pickle once again. This time, an aging starlet his PI company has been bodyguarding has been found murdered and all clues point to Liddell. Johnny had been helping the woman to cash in several thousands of dollars worth of diamonds and the jewels are MIA. The private dick has his work cut out for him as all his business associates in the case are looking out for No. 1 and denying any knowledge of the diamonds. Non-stop action, snappy dialogue, good hardboiled:

“This is for the kid, Murph.” He slammed his fist against the big man’s mouth. There was the sound of crunching teeth. The big man went staggering backward and fell across a table. “You won’t be needing teeth where you’re going.”

And Share Alike by Charles Williams

(21,000 words) **** illo: Tom O’Sullivan

Our narrator is hired by Diana James to steal a large amount of money from a woman named Madelon Butler. Mrs. Butler is married to a bank president who has mysteriously disappeared after embezzling $120,000. Diana is convinced she can dig up the money before Madelon. First rule of noir: never trust a woman. Both females have so many double-crosses up their sleeves they need larger gowns. Williams ends it on a beautifully downbeat ending as the guy gets nothing but a jail cell. We find ourselves rooting for this guy even though the majority of his actions are immoral. He just happens to be a little less immoral than either of the female cast members.

Perhaps best known for the sea thriller Dead Calm (1963), Charles Williams was, according to Ed Gorman, “line for line, the best of all the Gold Medal writers...quiet and possessed of a melancholy that imbued each of his tales with a kind of glum decorum.” Writer John D. MacDonald said that Williams was “one of the two or three best storytellers on the planet.”

Here are a few lines from Williams himself, taken from “And Share Alike”:

I stood there on the corner under a street light just holding the paper while the pieces fell all around me. It was too much. You could only get part of it at a time.

And when I tried to tell them that I couldn’t be suffering from any sense of guilt for killing Madelon Butler because I hadn’t killed her, and not only that but if I had killed her I still wouldn’t feel guilty about it because if I could only get my hands on her I’d gladly strangle her slowly to death right there before a whole courtroom full of people, including standing-room, and even pass out free refreshments if I had the money, it didn’t help any.

“And Share Alike” was expanded to novel form and released by Gold Medal later that year as A Touch of Death (and reprinted in 2006 by Hard Case Crime).

After his brief stint with Manhunt (3 short novels), Williams went on to write several more suspense novels (among them, Man on the Run (1958) and Aground (1960)). Like many of the classic Gold Medal crime novelists, the acclaim and notice didn’t come until decades later when reprints and movie adaptations awakened a new generation to these “hidden treasures.” Williams took his own life in 1975.

The film version of Dead Calm, skillfully directed by Philip Noyce (Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, Salt) is a nail-biting, claustrophobic thriller set almost entirely on a boat in the middle of the ocean. Dead Calm made Nicole Kidman a star.

Yard Bull by Frank Selig

(1000 words) ** illo: Houlihan

Security guard for the railroad recounts his early days as a train-hopper.

Also in this issue are Crime Cavalcade by Vincent H. Gaddis, Dan Sontup’s Portrait of a Killer #12: Jesse Walker and a new feature, What’s Your Verdict? By Sam Ross. A short mystery set-up and the reader is asked to decide what the outcome should be (an answer to the problem is provided).

The Health Knowledge Genre Magazines Part Three: Magazine of Horror

by Peter Enfantino

The first two parts of this overview of the Health Knowledge genre digests edited by Robert A. W. Lowndes, covered Magazine of Horror 1-12 and 13-24.

No. 25 January 1969

130 pages, 50 cents

cover: Virgil Finlay

(2) There Shall Be No Darkness – James Blish

(17,000 words; From Thrilling Wonder Stories, April 1950)

(5) The Phantom Ship – Captain Frederick Marrayat

(3500 words; from New Monthly Magazine, 1837)

(4) When Dead Gods Wake – Victor Rousseau

(9000 words; from Strange Tales, November 1931)

(3) *The Writings of Elwin Adams – Larry Eugene Meredith (4750 words)

(1) The Colossus of Ylourgne – Clark Ashton Smith

(16,250 words; from Weird Tales, June 1934)

Notes: RAWL writes “September 1, 1930 fell on a Wednesday; that was the day the new issue of Wonder Stories was due to go on sale, but there was always the hope that I might see it a day or two before, so I started to haunt the local newsstands Monday.” The editor writes of a certain time and a certain pulp but substitute your time and particular obsession and it’s a universal story amongst collectors. My drug was Famous Monsters of Filmland and I can remember calling my local comic store constantly (the owner probably thought my calls about the next issue began the day after I was in to pick up the current number!). But back to MOH- RAWL writes in his Editor’s Page about discovering Clark Ashton Smith in that issue of Wonder Stories and becoming a fast fan of the author. (When Dead Gods Wake” is illustrated but not credited. “The Colossus of Ylourgne” has an illustration signed by Clark Ashton Smith. RAWL reviews And Flights of Angels, a biography of artist Hannes Bok by Emil Petaja and “divers hands.” In It Is Written, Mrs. David H. Keller writes in, replying to the letter from Robert Madle about Keller’s “The Abyss,” which appeared in MOH 22. Also writing in are Mike Ashley and Eddy C. Bertin, a German writer best known for his Lovecraftian short stories.

No. 26 March 1969

130 pages, 50 cents

cover: Virgil Finlay

(1) The Devil’s Bride (Part 1 of 3) – Seabury Quinn

(29,500 words; from Weird Tales, February and March 1932)

(2) *The Oak Tree – David H. Keller, M. D. (5000 words)

(5) The Milk Carts – Violet A. Methley

(2750 words; from Weird Tales, March 1932)

(3) *Cliffs That Laughed – R. A. Lafferty (5500 words)

(t-4) Flight – James W. Bennett & Soong Kwen-Ling

(2750 words; from Weird Tales, March, 1932)

(t-4) The White Dog – Feodor Sologub

(2500 words;from Weird Tales, February 1926)

Notes: At long last, RAWL gets to run his beloved “The Devil’s Bride,” a Jules de Grandin novel that he’d been talking up cautiously for quite a while. Lowndes wasn’t sure readers would want such a long story, one that would have to be split into three parts (it originally ran in six consecutive issues of Weird Tales). Readers let him know they were ready and he obliged. This is also the first issue to feature an installment in David H. Keller’s “Tales of Cornwall” series. When Keller died, he left several unpublished “Cornwall” stories and RAWL was more than happy to rectify that, as well as publishing several of the chapters that had already seen print in Weird Tales. Lowndes’ editorial comments this issue are on the history and chronology of the “Cornwall” series. “The Devil’s Bride” is illustrated by Joe Doolin. Writing in is August Derleth (on Arkham House’s publishing schedule). The first issue of Health Knowledge’s latest digest, Thrilling Western Magazine, is advertised on the back cover.

No. 27 May 1969

130 pages, 50 cents

Cover: Virgil Finlay

(t-4) Spawn of Inferno – Hugh B. Cave

(8000 words; from Weird Tales, October 1932)

(3) *The Sword and the Eagle – David H. Keller (4750 words)

(t-4)*The Horror Out of Lovecraft – Donald A. Wollheim (3000 words)

(1) *The Last Work of Pietro of Apono – Steffan B. Aletti (4000 words)

(5) *At the End of Days – Robert Silverberg (1500 words)

(2) The Devil’s Bride (Pt. 2 of 3) – Seabury Quinn

(26,000 words; from Weird Tales, April and May 1932)

Notes: RAWL recounts for a letter writer how he came to weite the story, “Leapers,” which appeared in MOH 23. “Spawn of Inferno” is illustrated by Wyatt Nelson. “The Sword and the Eagle” is the second in the series of Tales from Cornwall (found in the author’s manuscripts after his death). Lowndes reviews Heinlein in Dimension by Alexi Panshin. “The Devil’s Bride” is illustrated by Joe Doolin (2 pieces). “The Horror Out of Lovecraft” is an HPL spoof. In It Is Written, J. C. Henneberger, the original publisher of Weird Tales tells the story of how “Imprisoned with the Pharoahs,” a story attributed to Harry Houdini but actually ghost-written by Lovecraft, came to be published in the May 1924 WT. Future science fiction/fantasy bibliographer Mark Owings and William M. Danner, publisher of the fanzine Stefantasy also contribute.

No. 28 July 1969

130 pages, 50 cents

cover: Robert Schmand

(3) The Nameless Mummy – Arlton Eadie

(6500 words; from Weird Tales, May 1932)

(2) *Raymond the Golden – David H. Keller (6000 words)

(4) The Phantom Drug – A. W. Kapfer

(3500 words; April 1926)

(5) *The Rope – Robert Greth (3250 words)

(6) A Revolt of the Gods – Ambrose Bierce

(1200 words; uncredited source)

(1) The Devil’s Bride (Conclusion) – Seabury Quinn

(26,500 words; from Weird Tales, June and July 1932)

*Not Only in Death They Die (verse) – Robert E. Howard

Notes: “Raymond the Golden” is the third in the series of “Tales from Cornwall” stories. The Howard verse is another of those found by Glen Lord in an attic or suitcase somewhere. In an expanded Inquisitions column, Lowndes reviews Nightmares and Daydreams by Nelson Bond, Index to the Weird Fiction Magazines by T.G.L. Cockcroft, and H. P. Lovecraft: A Portrait by W. Paul Cook. For the first time, RAWL also reviews fanzines; Science Fiction Review by Richard E. Geis, Speculation by Peter R. Weston, and the granddaddy of all sf “fanzines,” LOCUS (RAWL reviews Issue #16!) before it became a prozine. In It Is Written, L. Sprague decamp answers a letter from a previous column.

No. 29 September 1969

130 pages, 50 cents

Cover: Virgil Finlay

(2) The Case of the Sinister Shape – Gordon MacCreagh

(10,000 words; from Strange Tales, March 1932)

(3) The Thirty and One – David H. Keller, M.D.

(5000 words, from Marvel Science Stories, November 1938)

(4) *Portraits by Jacob Pitt – Steven Lott (4000 words)

(5) The Red Sail – Charles Hilan Craig

(2500 words; from Weird Tales, October 1931)

(1) Guatemozin the Visitant – Arthur J. Burks

(27,000 words; from Weird Tales, November 1931)

Notes: At this time, the offices of Health Knowledge moved from 119 Fifth Avenue to 140 Fifth Avenue (both in New York City). In his essay on “The Health Knowledge Years” for Outworlds 28/29 (1976), Lowndes says the new office was “just across the street (from the old office). Whether the stars or the numbers would have suggested this was an unwise move, I know not; I do know that things began to run downhill shortly afterward.” In a much-expanded Editor’s Page, Lowndes discusses the subject of Edgar Rice Burroughs and racism in the Tarzan novels (in connection with RAWL’s review of Richard Lupoff’s biography of ERB in Inquisitions). “Sinister Shape” is illustrated by Amos Sewell. “The Thirty and One” is the first reprinting of a Tale from Cornwall. When Lowndes got the rights to run all these stories, he decided to run them chronologically story-wise rather than in the order they first appeared. Keller would write stories all over his timeline rather than as one cohesive whole. Lowndes also presents a Cornwall timeline in each issue.

No. 30 December 1969

130 pages, 50 cents

cover: Richard Schmand

(1) Satan’s Servant’s – Robert Bloch

(11,000 words; from Something About Cats)

(2) Cross of Fire – Lester del Rey

(3500 words; from Weird Tales, May 1939)

(3) The Battle of the Toads - David H. Keller, M.D.

(5000 words; from Weird Tales, October 1929)

(5) *Harry Protagonist, Undersec for Overpop – Richard Wilson (1100 words)

Slumber (verse) – Robert E, Howard

(4) Speak for Yourself, John Quincy – Theodore Roscoe

(22,750 words; from Argosy, November 16, 1940)

Notes: I’m surprised that this is only Robert Bloch’s second (and last) appearance in MOH. Seems he’d be a natural for this zine, but it may have been a matter of budget. On The Editor’s Page (which should be titled, by this time, “Many Pages for the Editor”), RAWL asks “just what is the ‘New Thing in Science Fiction?’” The Bloch story has an introduction by the author and notes and commentary by Lovecraft. Though “The Battle of the Toads” is the fifth “Cornwall” tale, it was actually the first one to be published. “John Quincy” has an uncredited illustration. In It Is Written, Lowndes pays respect to Boris Karloff, who had died the previous February. An index to Volumes four and five are included. The Reckoning did not appear this issue.

No. 31 February 1970

130 pages, 50 cents

cover: Virgil Finlay

(3) *The Noseless Horror – Robert E. Howard (6500 words)

(4) The Tailed Man of Cornwall – David H. Keller, M.D.

(5500 words; from Weird Tales November 1929)

(1) The Duel of the Sorcerers (Pt. 1 of 2) – Paul Ernst

(16,000 words; from Strange Tales, March 1932)

(2) *For Services Rendered – Stephen Goldin (5000 words)

(5) The Roc Raid – George B. Tuttle

(16,250 words; from Weird Tales, November 1929)

Notes: This issue is mistakenly labeled Vol. 6 No. 2 even though it’s actually Vol. 6 No. 1. Lucky for us collectors, they were thoughtful enough to give the zine a whole number. Imagine all the years we’d be trying to hunt down a non-existent V6N1? On The Editor’s Page, RAWL writes about his early days in fandom and his introduction to Weird Tales. Is “The Noseless Horror” one of the silliest titles for a story run in a “Magazine of Horror?” Couldn’t Glen Lord have “accidentally” lost the title page when he found this buried in REH’s backyard in a trunk under his favorite cherry tree? In the Inquisitions column, Lowndes reviews The Man Who Calls Himself Poe, edited by Sam Moskowitz.

No. 32 May 1970

130 pages, 60 cents

cover: Robert Clewell

The Hunters from Beyond – Clark Ashton Smith

(8500 words; from Strange Tales, October 1932)

No Other Man – David H. Keller, M.D.

(5500 words, from Weird Tales, December 1929)

*Materialist – Janet Fox (2500 words)

The Moon-Dial – Henry S. Whitehead

(12,000 words; from Strange Tales, January 1932)

The Duel of the Sorcerers (Conclusion) – Paul Ernst

(19,500 words; from Strange Tales, March 1932)

Notes: Cover price increases from 50 to 60 cents. By this time, both Famous Science Fiction and World Wide Adventures are dead. RAWL discusses Norman Spinrad’s controversial novel, Bug Jack Barron in The Editor’s Page. Since Famous Science Fiction is no more, RAWL chooses to run C.A. Smith’s “The Hunters” in MOH despite the fact that it’s the third story in a trilogy of “Philip Hastane” stories (the first two were reprinted in FamSF). There’s an illustration accompanying the story but it’s uncredited. Harry Warner, Jr.’s look at Science Fiction fandom in the 1940s, All Our Yesterdays, is reviewed in Inquisitions. "No Other Man" is the seventh “Cornwall” tale (but third in the chronology—confused yet?). That timeline gets longer every issue, now taking up most of a full page. Janet Fox became the go-to girl for the small press in the late 80s and early 90s, publishing her Scavenger’s Newsletter monthly in a time when we didn’t have the internet to find out what was coming out when (and now that we do have the internet there’s not much of a small press, is there?) Janet would run addresses, writer’s guidelines and “want lists” of publishers looking for new talent. She became a very important asset for The Scream Factory in our early days. Sadly, Janet Fox passed away last year. “The Duel” is illustrated by H. W. Wesso. Muriel C. Eddy and Richard Lupoff contribute to It Is Written. Health Knowledge’s latest addition to the stable, Weird Terror Tales gets its first ad on the back cover.

No. 33 Summer 1970

130 pages, 60 cents

cover: Virgil Finlay

(5) *Camera Obscura – Ted H. Straus (7000 words)

(4) The Bride Well - David H. Keller, M.D.

(5500 words; from Weird Tales, October 1930)

(3) Ligeia – Edgar Allen Poe

(8000 words; uncredited source)

(1) The Nameless Offspring – Clark Ashton Smith

(9750 words; from Strange Tales, June 1932)

(6) Back Before the Moon – S. Omar Barker

(4500 words; from Strange Tales, March 1932)

(2) The Road to Nowhere – Robert A. W. Lowndes

(12,500 words; from Science Fiction Quarterly, Fall 1942)

Notes: RAWL argues, in The Editor’s Page, that science fiction writing has gotten better since the 1930s. “The Bride Well” is Cornwall #8 (no timeline published this issue). An expanded Inquisitions has reviews of Tolkien: A Look Behind The Lord of the Rings by Lin Carter and Two Dozen Dragon Eggs by Donald A. Wollheim. There are also reviews of the fanzines An Annotated Checklist of Science Fiction Bibliographical Works by Fred Lemer and A Reader’s Guide to the Cthulhu Mythos by Robert Weinberg. “The Nameless Offspring” is illustrated by pulp legend Rafael De Soto. S. Omar Barker was well known for the “cowboy poetry” he wrote and saw published in many of the western pulps. “The Road to Nowhere” originally appeared in a shorter version under the title “Highway.” In a long, rambling introduction to It Is Written, RAWL relates a lunch he had with author Stefan Aletti and the question that came up: “What sort of story that we have been publishing in MOH has been most consistently popular with you, the active reader?” The discussion veers from “Is it the gore?” to “Is it the good writing?’ RAWL lists all the stories that have placed first in The Reckoning, then lists the stories that might have been #1 had the “polls been open longer.” As I say, long and rambling but then that’s what made the presence of RAWL so rewarding. Aletti also contributes a letter to It Is Written.

No. 34 Fall 1970

130 pages, 60 cents

cover: Virgil Finlay

(1) The Headless Miller of Kobold’s Keep – Irvin Ashkenazy

(10,500 words; from Weird Tales, January 1937)

(4) *Bride of the Wind – Stephen Goldin (5000 words)

*A Song of Defeat (verse) – Robert E. Howard

(2) The Emergency Call – Marion Brandon

(6500 words; from Strange Tales, June 1932)

(5) *Feminine Magic – David H. Keller, M.D. (6000 words)

(3) The Whistling Corpse – G. G. Pendarves

(17,750 words; from Weird Tales, July 1937)

Notes: RAWL shares his “reminiscences of Seabury Quinn” in The Editor’s Page(s). Health Knowledge’s final digest, Bizarre Fantasy Tales, is announced on the back cover. “Feminine Magic” is a never-before-published Cornwall tale (#9 in the series for those keeping score). Inquisitions sees reviews of The Moon of Skulls by Robert E. Howard and The Little Monsters, edited by Vic Ghidalia and Roger Elwood. In It Is Written, a long letter of nostalgia by California comic book fanzine publisher Richard Kyle (who is attributed with coining the phrase “graphic novel” in one of his zines in 1964. “Bride of the Wind” is the second in a series of stories known as “The Shop.”

No. 35 February 1971

130 pages, 75 cents

cover: Ricardo Rivera

The Altar of Melek Taos – G. G. Pendarves

(15,500 words; from Weird Tales, September 1932

*The Chenoo – Stephen Goldin (6500 words)

Old City of Jade – Thomas H. Knight

(8000 words; from Weird Tales, October 1931)

A Rendezvous in Averoigne – Clark Ashton Smith

(6500 words; from Weird Tales, April-May 1931)

The Mystery in Acatlan – Rachael Marshall & Maverick Terrell

(5500 words; from Weird Tales, November 1928)

In the Lair of the Space Monsters – Frank Belknap Long

(10,000 words; from Strange Tales, October 1932)

Notes: According to RAWL’s essay in Outworlds, Acme News, the corporation that owned the Health Knowledge line, went bankrupt in the Summer of 1970 and Country Wide Publications (owned by notorious publisher, Myron Fass) took over. Only four titles survived the chaos: MOH, Startling Mystery Tales, Bizarre Fantasy Tales, and Acme’s UFO/Bigfoot/paranormal digest, Exploring the Unknown. Incredibly, Weird Terror was axed because Countrywide already published comics with the words Weird and Terror in them and this would cause too much confusion for the company’s bookkeepers! Those comics were among the infamous Eerie Publications (Weird, Witches’ Tales, Tales of Voodoo, etc.), black and white magazines that took pre-code horror comics and added new, gorier panels to the existing art. There’s a new book on the market, The Weird World of Eerie Publications by Mike Howlett that goes into the entire history of the line including its brief association with the Health Knowledge titles. There’s a fascinating bit on how Fass convinced Lowndes to pick out several public domain stories from his digests to run in the comic magazines. Right afterwards, Fass pulled the plug on Health Knowledge and Lowndes was out on the street. I’ll be covering the Howlett book more in-depth in the future. The cover for MOH 35 came from a Countrywide magazine, the short-lived Strange Unknown, ironically a competitor of Exploring the Unknown. The illo is very much reminiscent of the kind of gruesome art that ran in the Eerie zines and must have had MOH readers pitching a fit.

In The Editor’s Page, RAWL discusses “relevance in fantastic fiction.” “The Altar” is illustrated by T. Wyatt Nelson. “The Chenoo” is the third in “The Shop” stories (well, that was what Lowndes called them; Goldin preferred to call it the “Angel in Black” series). This was the last of the series published in MOH but Goldin would write two more “Shop/Angel” stories: “In the Land of Angra Mainyu” (for Gerald Page’s anthology, Nameless Places) and “The Masai Witch” (in Stuart David Schiff’s Whispers #19/20). Goldin collected all five stories in an e-book, appropriately entitled Angel in Black. “In the Lair” is illustrated by Amos Sewell. Kenneth Faig, who would later go on to write several books on Lovecraft writes in to It Is Written.

No. 36 April 1971

130 pages, 75 cents

cover: uncredited

Dread Exile – Paul Ernst

(6750 words; from Strange Tales, June 1932)

The Testament of Athammaus – Clark Ashton Smith

(8000 words; from Weird Tales, October 1932)

*The Vespers Service – William R. Bauer (3500 words)

The Artist of Tao – Arthur Styron

(3500 words; from Strange Tales, October 1932)

The Key to Cornwall – David H. Keller

(5000 words; from Stirring Science Stories, February 1941)

*The Executioner – Rachel Cosgrove Payes (2600 words)

The Settlement of Dryden vs. Shard – W. O. Inglis

(2000 words; from Harper’s Magazine, September 1902)

The Grisly Horror – Robert E. Howard

(12,000 words; from Weird Tales, February 1935)

Notes: RAWL didn’t know this would be the last issue (he had doubts that the Health Knowledge line would last very much longer but there was no verbal warning) so there’s no fond farewell on The Editor’s Page. There is, instead, a typically long discussion of Lovecraft’s views on horror fiction. The lineup for MOH #37 (had it been produced) would have included “From the Dark Halls of Hell” by G. G. Pendarves (from Weird Tales, January 1932), “Once on Aranea” by R. A. Lafferty (an original story that would finally appear in the 1972 Lafferty collection, Strange Doings), and "Murgunstrumm" by Hugh Cave (this was to be serialized in two parts in 37 and, ostensibly, 38; the story originally appeared in Strange Tales, June 1933; it became the title story in the massive Carcosa collection in 1977). “Testament,” “Tao” and “The Grisly Horror” all have uncredited illustrations. “Vespers” and “The Executioner” were originally slated for Weird Terror Tales #4 but shifted over to MOH when WTT was axed. Lowndes' intro to the latter story: "Rachel Cosgrove Payes would also have been present in that never-never issue of Weird Terror Tales. She was one of the very last writers to contribute to the OZ series, originated by L. Frank Baum. Since then, she has written numbers of more or less mundane novels for the now-discontinued Avalon hardcover series, as well as several science fiction novels for Avalon, these latter under the name of L. E. Arch.” Mundane? “Gee, thanks RAWL. I’ll put that in my C.V.!” Years later, Payes was writing historical sex novels for Playboy Press (Moment of Desire, Bride of Fury, The Coach to Hell, Satan’s Mistress). “The Key” is the tenth (and final) Cornwall tale. R. E. Howard’s original title for “The Grisly Horror” was “The Moon of Zambebwei.” In a jumbo-sized Inquisitions, RAWL reviews Under the Moons of Mars, edited by Sam Moskowitz, Beware the Beasts, edited by Ghidalia and Elwood, The Wood Beyond the World by William Morris, The Double Bill Symposium by Lloyd Biggle, Jr., and The Conan Swordbook, edited by L. Sprague decamp and George H. Scithers. In It Is Written, RAWL lets us behind the scenes on all the calamities that have befallen him and Health Knowledge lately. Interesting stuff. The Reckoning is caught up on (it had been omitted the last few issues), though not quite enough as MOH 32’s results are not included. Stuart David Schiff writes in. There is an Index to Volume Six.

Next up: Startling Mystery Tales Part One