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Post by dem bones on Mar 6, 2008 8:58:39 GMT
Strange Tales of Mystery & Terror (Odyssey Publications, 1976) Jack Williamson - Wolves Of DarknessA new look at beings of Ancient Myth -- Werewolves.Hugh B. Cave - StragellaShipwrecked on the Indian Ocean Bela Yancy meets Stragella, under a mist that was a shroud.Clark Ashton Smith - Door To SaturnBeyond the Sea and Sky the Wizard Eibon pursues his outlandish wanderings.Marion Brandon - Emergency CallThrough the storm and darkness of the night comes a cry for help, and from an even deeper darkness come an answerRobert E. Howard - People Of The Dark. Out of the past, in the Dagon's cave, John O'Brien meets a former self, Conan of the reavers.Paul Ernst - Dread Exile. Who was the grotesque stranger. A maniac or the teller of an incredible truth?Edmond Hamilton - Dead Legs. Dall, the gangster, could not know that 'Dead-legs' was a prophecy of doom. The Clayton Standard on a Magazine Guarantees:That the stories therein are clean, Interesting, vivid, by leading writers of the day and purchased under conditions approved by the Authors' League of America;
That such magazines are manufactured in Union shops by American workmen;
That each newsdealer and agent is insured a fair profit;
That an intelligent censorship guards their advertising pages.The other Clayton magazines are Ace-High Magazine, Ranch Romances, Cowboy Stories, Clues, Five-Novel Monthly, All-Star Detective Stories, Rangeland Love Story Magazine, Western Adventures, Western Love Stories, Soldiers Of Fortune, Astounding Stories, Complete Western Love Novelettes and Complete Mystery Novelettes. More Than Two Million Copies Required to Supply the Monthly Demand for Clayton Magazines. Regarded by some commentators as better than the mighty Weird Tales, with whom it shared several contributors, and they're not necessarily being flash, either. Strange Tales (not to be confused with the much later pre-code horror comic) ran for but 18 months and seven issues under the editorship of Harry Bates (of Astounding fame) from September 1931-January 1933. I know a complete index to the seven issues has been published but I can't find one among my junk or, surprisingly, online (unless I'm not looking in the right places: if you know of one, I'd appreciate the link. Save me wasting time getting on with my own attempt in the background!).
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Post by Steve on Mar 6, 2008 14:33:13 GMT
I know a complete index to the seven issues has been published but I can't find one among my junk or, surprisingly, online (unless I'm not looking in the right places: if you know of one, I'd appreciate the link. Save me wasting time getting on with my own attempt in the background!). I was struggling to find anything definitve too, so I started cobbling together a list of contents for each issue from the usual sources (locusmag, etc.); Strange Tales of Mystery and Terror Clayton Magazines Inc., New York Editor: Harry Bates Cover artist: H. W. Wesso (H. W. Wessolowski), contained illustrations by Rafael DeSoto and Amos Sewell 7 issues. Initially published bi-monthly, published quarterly after Volume II, # 2, June 1932 Volume I, # 1, September 1931The Dead Who Walk by Ray Cummings The Place of the Pythons by Arthur J. Burks The Dark Castle by Marion Brandon Dr. Muncing, Exorcist by Gordon MacCreagh The Dog That Laughed by Charles Willard Diffin The Return of the Sorceror by Clark Ashton Smith Nasturtia by Capt. S. P. Meek A Cry from Beyond by Victor Rousseau The Awful Injustice by S. B. H. Hurst Volume I, # 2, November 1931The Black Mass by Capt. S. P. Meek Webbed Hands by Ferdinand Berthoud Guatemozin the Visitant by Arthur J. Burks After Sunset by Philip Hazleton When Dead Gods Wake by Victor Rousseau The Thirteenth Floor by Douglas M. Dold Cassius by Henry S. Whitehead Volume I, # 3, January 1932Dead Legs by Edmond Hamilton Wolves of Darkness by Jack Williamson The Moon-Dial by Henry S. Whitehead The Black Laugh by William J. Makin The Shadow on the Sky by August W. Derleth The Door to Saturn by Clark Ashton Smith The Smell by Francis Flagg The Door of Doom by Hugh B. Cave Volume II, # 1, March 1932The Feline Phantom by Gilbert Draper The Duel of the Sorcerers by Paul Ernst By the Hands of the Dead by Francis Flagg The Trap by Henry S. Whitehead Tiger by Bassett Morgan Back Before the Moon by S. Omar Barker The Case of the Sinister Shape by Gordon MacCreagh The Veil of Tanit by Eugene de Rezske Volume II, # 2, June 1932Stragella by Hugh B. Cave Dread Exile by Paul Ernst The Great Circle by Henry S. Whitehead The House in the Magnolias by August W. Derleth & Mark Schorer People of the Dark by Robert E. Howard The Emergency Call by Marion Brandon The Golden Patio by Aubrey Feist The Nameless Offspring by Clark Ashton Smith Volume II, # 3, October 1932The Hunters from Beyond by Clark Ashton Smith The Curse of Amen-Ra by Victor Rousseau Sea Tiger by Henry S. Whitehead The Dead Walk Softly by Sewell Peaslee Wright Bal Macabre by Gustav Meyrink Strange Tales and True by Robert W. Sneddon The Infernal Shadow by Hugh B. Cave The Artist of Tao by Arthur Styron In the Lair of the Space Monsters by Frank Belknap Long Jr. Volume III, # 1, January 1933The Second Interment by Clark Ashton Smith The Thing that Walked on the Wind by August W. Derleth The Terror by Night by Charles Willard Diffin White Lady by Sophie Wenzel Ellis Murgunstrumm by Hugh B. Cave The Napier Limousine by Henry S. Whitehead The Cairn on the Headland by Robert E. Howard Did all that, found scans of the covers, resized them, uploaded them, the whole bit... then stumbled across; This French site (scroll down to the bottom) Bloody typical! I've posted my list anyway for easy reference but the link above will give you a bit more information; what was a short story and what was a novella, series characters, and such (although they seem to have left out issue 6). And, courtesy of Pulpgen, you can read "White Lady" by Sophie Wenzel Ellis as it appeared in that last January 1933 issue; White Lady (pdf) Strange Tales was revived by Wildside Press in 2003.
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Post by dem bones on Mar 6, 2008 18:53:59 GMT
I was struggling to find anything definitive too, so I started cobbling together a list of contents for each issue from the usual sources (locusmag, etc.); ..... Did all that, found scans of the covers, resized them, uploaded them, the whole bit... then stumbled across; This French site (scroll down to the bottom) Bloody typical! Ain't that always the case? !!! Thanks for putting so much into this, Steve! Looking down the list of story titles, I'm delighted - and very surprised - to see I've copies of the majority, and that's mostly down to Robert A. W. Lowdnes who reprinted so many of them in Magazine Of Horror and Startling Mystery Stories. If these had survived, it looks as if he was building up to revive the whole lot. Will try and add some dreadful notes on the stories at some stage .... Brilliant covers, too. my favourites are those which, I take, depict scenes from The Hunters From Beyond and Stragella.
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Post by dem bones on Mar 30, 2013 14:58:37 GMT
Strange Tales Of Mystery & Terror: A-Z by AuthorThanks to Steve G for doing all the spadework. S. Omar Barker - Back Before the Moon (#4. March 1932) Ferdinand Berthoud - Webbed Hands (#2. November 1931) Marion Brandon - The Dark Castle (#1. September 1931) Marion Brandon - The Emergency Call (#5. June 1932) Arthur J. Burks - Guatemozin the Visitant (#2. November 1931) Arthur J. Burks - The Place of the Pythons (#1. September 1931) Hugh B. Cave - The Door of Doom (#3. January 1932) Hugh B. Cave - The Infernal Shadow (#6. October 1932) Hugh B. Cave - Murgunstrumm (#7. January 1933) Hugh B. Cave - Stragella (#5. June 1932) Ray Cummings - The Dead Who Walk (#1. September 1931) August W. Derleth - The Shadow on the Sky (#3. January 1932) August W. Derleth - The Thing that Walked on the Wind (#7. January 1933) August W. Derleth & Mark Schorer - The House in the Magnolias (#5. June 1932) Charles Willard Diffin - The Dog That Laughed (#1. September 1931) Charles Willard Diffin - The Terror by Night (#7. January 1933) Douglas M. Dold - The Thirteenth Floor (#2. November 1931) Gilbert Draper - The Feline Phantom (#4. March 1932) Sophie Wenzel Ellis - White Lady (#7. January 1933) Paul Ernst - Dread Exile (#5. June 1932) Paul Ernst - The Duel of the Sorcerers (#4. March 1932) Aubrey Feist - The Golden Patio (#5. June 1932) Francis Flagg - By Hands of the Dead (#4. March 1932) Francis Flagg - The Smell (#3. January 1932) Edmond Hamilton - Dead Legs (#3. January 1932) Philip Hazleton - After Sunset (#2. November 1931) Robert E. Howard - The Cairn on the Headland (#7. January 1933) Robert E. Howard - People of the Dark (#5. June 1932) S. B. H. Hurst - The Awful Injustice (#1. September 1931) Frank Belknap Long Jr. - In the Lair of the Space Monsters (#6. October 1932) Gordon MacCreagh - The Case of the Sinister Shape (#4. March 1932) Gordon MacCreagh - Dr. Muncing, Exorcist (#1. September 1931) William J. Makin - The Black Laugh[/color] (#3. January 1932) Capt. S. P. Meek - The Black Mass (#2. November 1931) Capt. S. P. Meek - Nasturtia (#1. September 1931) Gustav Meyrink - Bal Macabre (#6. October 1932) Bassett Morgan - Tiger (#4. March 1932) Eugene de Rezske - The Veil of Tanit (#4. March 1932) Victor Rousseau - A Cry from Beyond (#1. September 1931) Victor Rousseau - The Curse of Amen-Ra (#6. October 1932) Victor Rousseau - When Dead Gods Wake (#2. November 1931) Clark Ashton Smith - The Door to Saturn (#3. January 1932) Clark Ashton Smith - The Hunters from Beyond (#6. October 1932) Clark Ashton Smith - The Nameless Offspring (#5. June 1932) Clark Ashton Smith - The Return of the Sorceror (#1. September 1931) Clark Ashton Smith - The Second Interment (#7. January 1933) Robert W. Sneddon - Strange Tales and True (#6. October 1932) Arthur Styron - The Artist of Tao (#6. October 1932) Henry S. Whitehead - Cassius (#2. November 1931) Henry S. Whitehead - The Great Circle (#5. June 1932) Henry S. Whitehead - The Moon-Dial (#3. January 1932) Henry S. Whitehead - The Napier Limousine (#7. January 1933) Henry S. Whitehead - Sea Tiger (#6. October 1932) Henry S. Whitehead - The Trap (#4. March 1932) Jack Williamson - Wolves of Darkness (#3. January 1932) Sewell Peaslee Wright - The Dead Walk Softly (#6. October 1932) Reprints: Health KnowledgeRobert A. W. Lowndes looks to have been on a one-man mission to revive the entire series, and had Magazine Of Horror et al survived beyond 1971 you get the feeling he'd have succeeded. In all he reproduced 43 of the 56 stories over three magazine runs, including everything from the first four issues, the bulk of numbers 5 and 6, and absolutely nothing from 7. Arthur J. Burks - The Place Of The Pythons ( Magazine Of Horror #3) Henry S. Whitehead - Cassius ( Magazine Of Horror #5) Clark Ashton Smith - The Door To Saturn ( Magazine Of Horror #6) Ray Cummings - The Dead Who Walk ( Magazine Of Horror #8) William J. Makin - The Black Laugh ( Magazine Of Horror #8) Gordon MacCreagh - Dr. Muncing, Exorcist ( Magazine Of Horror #12) Charles Willard Diffin - The Dog That Laughed ( Magazine Of Horror #16) Victor Rousseau - The Curse Of Amen-Ra ( Magazine Of Horror #16) Jack Williamson - Wolves Of Darkness ( Magazine Of Horror #18) Victor Rousseau - A Cry From Beyond ( Magazine Of Horror #20) Col. S. P. Meek - Nasturtia ( Magazine Of Horror #21) Douglas M. Dold - The Thirteenth Floor ( Magazine Of Horror #23) Victor Rousseau - When Dead Gods Wake ( Magazine Of Horror #25) Gordon MacCreagh - The Case Of The Sinister Shape ( Magazine Of Horror #29) Arthur J. Burks - Guatemozin The Visitant ( Magazine Of Horror #29) Paul Ernst - The Duel Of The Sorcerers ( Magazine Of Horror #31/ 32) Clark Ashton Smith - The Hunters From Beyond ( Magazine Of Horror #32) Henry S. Whitehead - The Moon-Dial ( Magazine Of Horror #32) Clark Ashton Smith - The Nameless Offspring ( Magazine Of Horror #33) S. Omar Barker - Back Before the Moon ( Magazine Of Horror #33) Marion Brandon - The Emergency Call ( Magazine Of Horror #34) Frank Belknap Long - In The Lair Of The Space Monsters ( Magazine Of Horror #35) Paul Ernst - Dread Exile ( Magazine Of Horror #36) Arthur Stryon - The Artist Of Tao ( Magazine Of Horror #36) S. B. H. Hurst - The Awful Injustice ( Startling Mystery Stories #1) Hugh B. Cave - The Door of Doom ( Startling Mystery Stories #3) Marion Brandon - The Dark Castle ( Startling Mystery Stories #6) Clark Ashton Smith - The Return Of The Sorcerer ( Startling Mystery Stories #8) Colonel S. P. Meek - The Black Mass ( Startling Mystery Stories #9) Ferdinand Berthoud - Webbed Hands ( Startling Mystery Stories #9) Phillip Hazelton - After Sunset ( Startling Mystery Stories #11) Bassett Morgan - Tiger ( Startling Mystery Stories #12) Eugend de Rezske - The Veil Of Tanit ( Startling Mystery Stories #13) Gilbert Draper - The Feline Phantom ( Startling Mystery Stories #14) Francis Flagg - By Hands Of The Dead ( Startling Mystery Stories #15) Francis Flagg - The Smell ( Startling Mystery Stories #16) Hugh B. Cave - The Infernal Shadow ( Startling Mystery Stories #17) Aubrey Feist - The Golden Patio ( Startling Mystery Stories #18) Edmond Hamilton - Dead Legs ( Web Terror Tales # 1) August W. Derleth - The Shadow on the Sky ( Web Terror Tales # 2) Sewell Peaslee Wright - The Dead Walk Softly ( Web Terror Tales # 2) Hugh B. Cave - Stragella ( Web Terror Tales # 3) Henry S. Whitehead - The Trap ( Web Terror Tales # 3) The unlucky thirteen were: Henry S. Whitehead's The Great Circle, Sea Tiger and The Napier Limousine; Robert E. Howard's People of the Dark and The Cairn on the Headland; August W. Derleth & Mark Schorer's The House in the Magnolias; August W. Derleth's The Thing that Walked on the Wind; Hugh B. Cave's Murgunstrumm; Sophie Wenzel Ellis' White Lady; Gustav Meyrink's Bal Macabre; Robert W. Sneddon's Strange Tales and True; Charles Willard Diffin's The Terror by Night; and Clark Ashton Smith's The Second Interment. In BooksStrange Tales of Mystery & Terror, a seven story sampler from Odyssey Publications, 1976, includes Jack Williamson - Wolves Of Darkness Hugh B. Cave - Stragella Clark Ashton Smith - Door To Saturn Marion Brandon - Emergency Call Robert E. Howard - People Of The Dark. Paul Ernst - Dread Exile. Edmond Hamilton - Dead Legs. Henry S. Whiteheads The Trap, Cassius, The Moon-Dial, The Napier Limousine and Sea-Tiger all feature in the bumper bargain Voodoo Tales: The Ghost Stories of Henry S. Whitehead (Wordsworth Editions, 2012) Clark Ashton Smith: The Emperor Of Dreams (Gollancz, 2002) includes The Door to Saturn, The Hunters from Beyond, The Return of the Sorceror and The Nameless Offspring. For The Second Interment you'll need Out Of Space & Time (Panther, 1974) on maybe Vic Ghildalia's Eight Strange Tales (Fawcett, 1972). Hugh B. Cave's The Door of Doom, Murgunstrumm, and Stragella are reprinted in Murgunstrumm And Others (Carcosa, 1977). Murgunstrumm returns in Stephen Jones' The Mammoth Book of Terror (Robinson. 1991). Stragella makes Mr. Jones' The Mammoth Book of Vampires (Robinson, 1992) and Robert Weinberg, Stefan R. Dziemainowicz, & Martin H. Greenberg's Weird Vampire Tales (Gramercy, 1992). The latter also reprints Marion Brandon's The Dark Castle. The same trio's Rivals Of Weird Tales (Bonanza, 1990) resurrects Clark Ashton Smith's The Return of the Sorcerer, Jack Williamson's Wolves of Darkness and Robert E. Howard's The Cairn on the Headland. Robert E. Howard's two contributions, The Cairn On The Headland and People of the Dark are easily available, your budget option being the excellent The Haunter Of The Ring (Wordsworth, 2008) Victor Rousseau's The Curse Of Amen-Ra is revived in Martin H. Greenberg's Mummy Stories, (Ballatine,1990). His A Cry from Beyond is the Strange Tales representative in Peter Haining's The Fantastic Pulps, (Gollancz, 1976)' Gordon MacCreagh's Dr. Muncing, Exorcist returns in Peter Haining's The Black Magic Omnibus Vol 2, (Orbit 1977). Paul Ernst's sprawling epic, The Duel Of The Sorcerers is the best thing about Kurt Singer's Gothic Horror Book, (W. H. Allen, 1974). August W. Derleth: The Thing that Walked on the Wind is in Boris Karloff Horror Anthology, Corgi 1969). His "collaboration" with Mark Schorer, The House in the Magnolias gets the Peter Haining treatment in Zombie: Tales Of The Walking Dead, Target, 1985). For The Shadow On The Sky, your best bet remains his wildly entertaining collection, Not Long For This World (Ballatine, circa 1960, originally Arkham House, 1948) Additions/ corrections welcome.
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Post by dem bones on Oct 28, 2015 8:25:38 GMT
Justin Marriott's piece in Pulp Horror #1, reminded me that its roughly a century since we updated this thread. Gustav Meyrink's Bal Macabre resurfaced in 'Sean Richards' tastefully titled The Elephant Man & Other Freaks, 1980. The only items which seem to have evaded both R.A.W.L. and the anthologists - please, correct me if I'm wrong - are the following lonesome trio. For Charles Willard Diffin's The Terror by Night, and Sophie Wenzel Ellis' White Lady, you'll need the Wildside Press facsimile of the Jan. 1933 issue. Alternatively, in the case of Ms. Ellis, download the pdf from link in Steve's post (second on this thread). For Robert W. Sneddon's non-fiction, Strange Tales and True you'll need the Wildside Press facsimile of the October 1932 issue.
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Post by dem bones on Jul 29, 2021 17:01:44 GMT
Harry Bates [ed.] - Strange Tales , March 1932 (Wildside Press, 2005) Gilbert Draper - The Feline Phantom The Oracle of Delphi Paul Ernst - The Duel of the Sorcerers The Wizard Merlin Francis Flagg - By the Hands of the Dead Henry S. Whitehead - The Trap Bassett Morgan - Tiger S. Omar Barker - Back Before the Moon Gordon MacCreagh - The Case of the Sinister Shape Primitive Astronomy Eugene de Rezske - The Veil of Tanit Gilbert Draper - The Feline Phantom: "Humbug" and "rubbish," Banks Called the Strange Tale of Soul-tampering ... And yet ... And yet .... When Horace Banks bought the Persian cat in Cairo, the trader warned him that, should the creature die an unnatural death, its spirit would haunt whoever owned it at the time and cause their death on the second anniversary of its own. Cina has the soul of an Indian fakir, murdered mid experiment in soul transmigration. Banks duly smothers Cina with the bedsheets and soon wishes he hadn't. If the trader spoke true, tonight he will die horribly. He confides in his best friend - our narrator - who refuses to keep him company, believing Banks is pulling his leg. H. W. Wesso Francis Flagg - By the Hands of the Dead: From beyond the Very Grave a Spirit Reaches Back with Hands of Vengeance. Peter Strong, champion of "scientific spiritualism," invites an audience of sceptics to witness a demonstration of his latest invention, the psychic machine. Unfortunately for Strong, the experiment is a success. He materialises a woman twenty years dead - his wife.
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Post by dem bones on Jul 30, 2021 6:17:50 GMT
Rafael DeSoto S. Omar Barker - Back Before the Moon: Eligio Learns the Queer Way of a Cross in the Black Woods. New Mexico. A sheepman makes a mercy dash through the flooded land to retrieve the red cross from the chapel that will surely cure his dying daughter of her fever. Twice he must stop to waste precious time rescuing a crazy old miner from drowning, though God knows, he bitterly regrets not abandoning the fool to his fate. Until ... Amos Sewell Eugene de Rezske - The Veil of Tanit: Death is on the Veil-Which-May-Not-Be-Seen, and Relentlessly Comes the Day of Its Fulfilment. Personal pick of the stories to date. Peter Armand, Professor of ancient history, comes into possession of an invaluable Carthaginian antique in the form of a crudely inscribed block of metal. Following an article in a Sunday newspaper, Armand receives a visit from a fellow named Eochim who demands return of the piece, insisting it was stolen from his people three centuries ago. When Armand refuses, Euchin blithely curses him with death by torture and misery. The very next day, Armand's mother falls seriously ill. He leaves the sacred block in the care of his friend, 'Smith,' who succeeds in breaking the seal for the first time in over two thousand years. Inside, the veil of Tanit, "the mantle of the goddess, the sacred Zaimph, which no one might behold." So what on earth possessed him to try it on?
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Post by dem bones on Aug 1, 2021 13:36:51 GMT
Amos Sewell Bassett Morgan - Tiger: The Story of Senyap and the Ghost-Tiger — with Harden standing between. Fun and games on a Mayan plantation when Djac, the master's right hand man, trades in his aging wife for a younger model, Senyap, the sensual temple dancer. Out of sheer malice, the spurned party deliberately feeds herself to a sacred tiger, whose flesh is the tomb she will haunt for as long as it takes to destroy her usurper. Yet another Morgan variation on the theme of soul-migration and lycanthrope, though no inter-species brain transplants on this occasion. Romance, adventure, black sorcery, conspiracy, cobras, supernatural terror, and a hint of cannibalism. Certainly brightened up my afternoon.
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Post by dem bones on Aug 6, 2021 5:51:11 GMT
"Anthropotomancy! The most hellish of all the black practices! So this is the answer to the 'kidnapping mystery' we heard cried in the papers!"H. W. Wesso Paul Ernst - The Duel of the Sorcerers: It is Magic in the Dark — Sorcerer Against Sorcerer — Master against His Hell-Bound Pupil (a Complete Novellette) . Vanquished by adversary Professor Tholl in an occult duel, Dr. Herbert Quoy employs Cagliostro's secret of circumventing death to return from the grave — a vampire! Over several nights, Quoy feasts on the blood of Priscilla Rand, now wasting away before her fiancee's eyes. Rick Ballard fortuitously consults the Professor in the nick of time. Tholl recognises his former assistant's handiwork when he sees it. The abominable stench permeating the hospital ward is another dead giveaway. "A strange and ghastly odour of the grave! Of things long dead and clad in mildewed, clotted shrouds, of putrefaction and corruption, of inanimate lumps that rotted in secret places, buried from the light of the sun and the vision of mortal eyes!"The Professor and Rick join forces to seek out the vampire's lair. They learn from the innocent corpse last commandeered by Quoy that he spends the daylight hours in the red brick house overlooking Tynsdale Hollow Cemetery. Armed with an aspen stake, the pair arrive to find the nude, exsanguinated corpse of a young woman left to greet them but no sign of the diabolical Doctor! Taking advantage of their absence from Pricilla's bedside, Quoy casts his spell, luring her down the fire escape and across town to his vault in Tynsdale Hollow. To be continued. It's quite the marathon. Sort of, Ernst does Dracula
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Post by dem bones on Aug 12, 2021 17:35:01 GMT
Concluding: Paul Ernst - The Duel of the Sorcerers: Dr. Quoy uses Pricilla as bait to lure Tholl and Rick to his Tynsdale Hollow lair, a foul-smelling subterranean vault bathed in creepy green light. As our heroes set to reviving the girl (see illustration, previous post), he seals the door, opens the flood drain and leaves the trio to drown. Fools! By the time he returns to his coffin at dawn, they will surely be destroyed.... unless, of course, his evil genius has overlooked something it shouldn't have. Capture ... escape .... recapture .... escape. Armed with the Cagliostro manuscript and a mastery of voodoo, the vampire Quoy is far the more powerful magician, but his limited adversaries prove infuriatingly resilient until a final - horribly suspenseful - showdown which spills from a hospital ward to the slime-dripping vault. Three years later, Paul Ernst would dust off Dr. Quoy, dress him in regulation shudder pulp devil costume, for relaunch as Weird Tales' controversial Dr. Satan.
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Post by dem bones on Aug 13, 2021 9:04:47 GMT
Amos Sewell Gordon MacCreagh - The Case of the Sinister Shape: Dr. Muncing Encounters an Old Foe, an Unleashed Thing of Hate. One morning, on impulse, Dr. Muncing, exorcist, takes an early train to Ocean City, fearful that some terrible development is imminent. Following his instincts, Muncing arrives at the Bathurst Hotel, where a maid is in hysterics and a crowd straining to see inside room 48. Muncing accompanies a detective inside to find a dead man in pyjama's sprawled, hideously contorted, on the bed. "There's not an external mark on him, but every bone in his body seems to be broken; smashed small from the inside." Muncing instinctively realises what they're up against - an elemental of particular vindictiveness. Having drained energy from pyjama-man to the point where there was no more sustenance to be drawn, the evil spirit twisted the poor fellow's body into a knot before seeking a new host. The Bathurst, frequented by broken down actors and struggling vaudevillians, is its ideal hunting ground, as the living are most vulnerable to possession when at a low ebb. All this rather flies above "the detective"'s head (heroic as he is, the gumshoe is so out of his depth that MacCreagh doesn't dignify him with a name). Together this unlikely duo take the fight to the menace from beyond. As revived by Peter Haining for Supernatural Sleuths (1986). A decent supernatural thriller, highlight being the vivid description of the sinister shape's anti-face. As to the accompanying illustration, I so much prefer Sewell's enthused contributions to the shudder pulps.
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Post by dem bones on Aug 14, 2021 5:40:02 GMT
H. W. Wesso Henry S. Whitehead - The Trap: A Subtle Evil Lurks in Canevin's Antique Copenhagen Mirror. Much-travelled New Englander Gerald Canevin is staying as a guest and sometimes tutor at friend Browne's private school in Connecticut. The centre-piece of his room, an antique mirror, holds a particular fascination for fifteen year old pupil Robert Grandison, who, reeling from the glass exclaims; "It felt as though it were pulling my finger into it!" The following day, Grandison vanishes from the school. Canevin has uneasy dreams in which a weird parody of the lost boy communicates his plight telepathically. He is trapped within the mirror! Among a small group of fellow prisoners is Axel Holm, a seventeenth century glass-blower and black magician, who constructed the trap as a means of attaining eternal life for himself and two favoured slaves. Canevin is at a loss how to liberate the boy who has now been absent for eleven days. Eventually he settles on a drastic solution.
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Post by dem bones on Aug 18, 2021 7:56:21 GMT
Not got any more issues of Strange Tales, but the seven are public domain and available through usual online outlets. Also, the bulk of the stories have been anthologised and/ or reprinted in magazines like RAWL's delightful digests, Startling Mystery Stories, Magazine of Horror and Web Terror Tales, which is where I'm planning to sample them when the mood is upon me. H. W. Wesso Ferdinand Berthoud - Webbed Hands: ( Strange Tales, Nov. 1931). " .... As with the Others, Her Wrists Bore the Token of a Savage Hold ...."A harrowing death epidemic sweeps Cape Town. The corpses of seven women - all related - found spread across town over a period of three weeks, each bearing identical purple bruises on their wrists, otherwise no indication how they met their deaths. Judged on their facial expressions, they died of fright! Police arrest a relative who stands to gain from their passing, but there is little hope of a successful prosecution. Forty-year-old businessman Langford Blaike, who had taken out insurance policies on all the victims, laughs in their faces as he cashes in the policies to the tune of a vast fortune. How could the fools know that he has a thing from the swamp as an accomplice? Trundle, the half-man half-amphibian — "I never knew who my mother was, or what." — need only spring out on his prey, grab their wrists with his powerful webbed hands for their hearts to give out! It's the perfect crime — don't blow it! H. W. Wesso
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Post by dem bones on Aug 18, 2021 16:22:16 GMT
Amos Sewell (?) Colonel S. P. Meek - The Black Mass: ( Strange Tales, Nov. 1931). Even into a Holy Monastery Reaches the Foul Asmodeus and his Devil's Coven. A renegade monk steals the holy host from the monastery at Malden, Essex, as Brother Simon is destroyed by diabolical forces at the altar, the triple Tau of Asmodeus burnt into his reeking corpse. The Abbot, Father Albert, and Dr. Catheron, a modern day alchemist-exorcist, take the battle to the enemy by gatecrashing a Black Mass. Necromancy, human sacrifice, bolts of fire, etc. Final paragraphs suggest story was possibly intended as the first of a series.
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Post by dem bones on Aug 26, 2021 9:14:38 GMT
H. W. Wesso Charles Willard Diffin - The Dog That Laughed: ( Strange Tales, Sept. 1931). At Last Dr. Strohger and his Unholy Theories Are Overtaken by Fate — Fate in the Form of a Dog That Laughed. Though Professor Strohger, toxicologist and hypnotist, has been quietly dropped from the faculty list, he continues to take an interest in star students, Billy Prentiss and Jimmy Blaine, either of whom he is keen to recruit as his assistant on a pet project - the separation of dual personalities into two physical beings. Both young men are sweet on the Professor's niece and unpaid skivvy, Marge Duncan, of whom he is jealously protective. Marge warns Blaine against working for her uncle, and a glimpse through a peephole at one of Strohger's "subjects," - a the cringing, bestial creature the student recognises as Strohger's supposedly dead gardener, old man Wilkins - decides him against taking the job, leaving Billy to fill the vacancy. Blaine informs the police of his suspicions, but when they arrive at the Strohger premises, the Professor, his niece and the new assistant have left town. Strohger, relocated to a remote property at Norwark, presses ahead with his vile experiment, transferring Billy's soul into the body of a police dog, and vice versa. Which is when the initial reports surface of a vicious 'ape thing' prowling the grounds of "the big house" ......
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