The Shudder Pulps

[dem bones]

Robert Kenneth Jones - The Shudder Pulps: A History Of The Weird Menace Magazines of the 1930's (Fax, 1975)

Michael William Kaluta

Detested by the critics as an imbecilic bastard offspring of decent fantasy magazines like Weird Tales, the 'shudder' or 'sex and sadism' pulps rose to infamy during the 'thirties and have been all but ignored by anthologists ever since. There were a number of fly-by-night titles, but among the standard bearers were Horror Stories, Terror Tales, Dime Mystery, Uncanny Tales and a whole bunch of Spicy titles.

The few issues I've seen seem to be par for the course. Marvellously exploitative cover illustrations featuring a scantily clad girl being mithered by psychotic axe wielders, mad profs, circus freaks and sundry miscreants. Unlike several issues of "Weird Tales", these covers did relate to the wonders to be found within. You'd get a NEL size novel, a few novella's and a smattering of shorts, and they all shared a common theme. Young women in peril. Also, there was something very Scooby Doo about the plots in that nine times out of ten, the monster would eventually be unmasked as kindly old so-and-so who nobody suspected.

I don't have enough of these to do them justice, but among the more readily available stories I wouldn't hesitate to nominate as out-and-out classics of the form are Frederick C. Davis' "The Mole Men Want Your Eyes", Russell Gray's grotesque "Fresh Fiances For The Devil's Daughter", virtually anything by Robert Leslie Bellem and Hugh B. Cave (although plot-wise the latter could be jarringly sensible sometimes) and Donald Graham's whip-wielding circus freak opus, "Revelry In Hell."

A few tasters: "From the depths of the abandoned Black Lode mine they came - slimy, frightful creatures with staring, opaque eyes. Their groping hands sought soft, warm flesh - and the sight which only the mutilated bodies of the young and lovely, like my Jane, could give them ..."
From the legendary "The Mole Men Want Your Eyes". You can find this in Sheldon Jaffery's collection, "The Weirds" (Starmont 1987) and there's even a limited edition 9995 copies) stand-alone reprint from Shroud publishers, 1976 featuring a cover illustration that would probably still cause outrage were I to scan it here.

"Putrescent masses of decayed flesh, they walked the streets of New York - the victims of the Rotting Death. Was Bonny, my beloved, destined to be of their number? Could I, alone, outwit the monsters that had terrorized the world's largest city? I would die trying ... "
Edith & Ejler Jacobson, "Copses On Parade". Aside from this tasteful tale, the Jacobsons also introduced Nat Parry, or 'The Bleeder', possibly the world's first haemophiliac detective.

Russell Gray is deservedly infamous for his contributions, but he really pushed the boat out with "Fresh Fiances ...", a chain-em-up and whip 'em extravaganza with a decidedly cruel female lead whose torture of her helpless captives goes on and on and on ... It is, of course, a masterpiece.

There's a must have book on the history of the genre, Robert Kenneth King's "The Shudder Pulps: A History Of The Weird Menace Magazines of the 1930's'" which reproduces several covers and interior designs, plot summaries and interviews with many of the main players.

I've put together a no-frills mini site with details of other relevant books and booklets at junkyarddog.batcave.net/

Later edit

.... but it's been deleted now.

[gigasahab]

Demonik wrote: "I've put together a no-frills mini site with details of other relevent books and booklets at junkyarddog.batcave.net/"

Ah, that's your site, is it?
I was doing some googling trying to indentify a Web Terror Stories author, stumbled across your site, followed your link to the old forum, and decided to sign up at this new forum.

[dem bones]

Thanks for joining, gigasahab. It's weird with that site: sometimes it's there, then it goes missing for weeks at a time.

Great to have a Web Terror Stories reader on here. I've no idea who any of the later authors were - most likely they were all churned out by the same person. But what were Marion Zimmer Bradley and John Jakes doing in the early ones?

I'll shift the WTS stuff over (what little there is) onto here over the next few days.

[gigasahab]

admin said:

Thanks for joining, gigasahab. It's weird with that site: sometimes it's there, then it goes missing for weeks at a time.

Great to have a Web Terror Stories reader on here. (snip).

I'm glad that I stumbled on you people at such an opportune time! I've been having a look at the old Weird Menace pulps over on my Yahoo group & was planning to move on to the revival publications at some point. I've only read a couple of Web Terror but the story that most impressed me was as by Manfred Oravec. I've discovered that it isn't as unlikely a name as it first appeared to me, but I'm thinking that it's probably a pseudonym & that it might be the same author as Mark Bergstrom. Any info on either would be appreciated (There's a deceased US sports writer named Mark Bergstrom but he'd have only been 18 when those Web Terror issues came out & I'm inclined to rule him out).