John Jos. Miller’s CREATURE FEATURE

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PULP COVER FRIDAY: ONLY ONE DAY LATE!

I had hoped to get this up yesterday, but life intervened again (I hate it when that happens) and it got away from me. I am determined to get back on schedule, however, and back to what this column is about — pulp covers — though I am running short of pulps. Requests are welcome.

I’m reading Robert Weinberg’s history of WEIRD TALES, and at one point he talked about Anthony Rud (1893-1942) who had probably the best story in the zine’s first issue (admittedly, not a high standard to reach). The story was called “Ooze” and it was about a giant amoeba on the rampage, possibly the first of a major sf trope I call “the blob” theme. He also contributed some fairly decent stories to later issues of WT, though he apparently worked more in the adventure vein for magazines like ADVENTURE, which he later came to edit. He also edited DETECTIVE STORY MAGAZINE, which I thought we’d take a look at today.

DSM was published from 1915 through 1949, and was the first pulp devoted to detective fiction. It was a weekly for almost half its run, eventually publishing an astonishing 1057 issues. We’ll start with the first one, and go partway through 1932. More next week.

Man, that’s one scary clown.  I wonder what he’s drinking.

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