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THE BLOTTER, by John Gregory Betancourt

Welcome to the first issue of Adventure Tales. The general idea of AT is to reprint some of the greatest adventure-oriented fiction ever written for pulp magazines (and sometimes the “slick” magazines). We’re not talking about moldering old work by authors nobody has ever heard of, but rare and classic fiction that retains its original excitement and meets current high literary standards. Here you will find everything from fantasy and science fiction to mystery, suspense, and (as the magazine’s name implies) high adventure.

For the premiere issue, we have drawn from Argosy—perhaps the most famous pulp magazine of all time—for two stories by Hugh B. Cave, our Featured Author: “Island Feud” and “The Man Who Couldn’t Die.” Don’t miss the interview with Hugh, too, as he talks about his writing career and pulp magazines.

There are also stories by H. de Vere Stacpoole (best known as the author of The Blue Lagoon, filmed no less than five times, most famously starring Brooke Shields). “Under the Flame Trees” originally appeared in Short Stories magazine.

James C. Young, a well-respected pulp author who is unfairly forgotten these days, contributes “Rats Ashore,” a nautical tale with horrific overtones.

H. Bedford Jones was in many ways the king of the pulp magazine writers, contributing hundreds of stories (under his own byline and more than a dozen pseudonyms) to all of the top adventure and fiction pulp magazines. Here he contributes “Skulls,” a gruesome little revenge story, also from Short Stories.

Noted mystery author Vincent Starrett (1886-1974) contributes “The Evil Eye,” the first entry in his Lavender series, about a Chicago detective. (We will have more Lavender stories in future issues.)

“Watson!” by Captain A. E. Dingle, is an early Sherlock Holmes pastiche. The good Captain was a frequent fixture in pulps in the early 20th century, contributing a long string of nautically-themed stories. Not surprisingly, Holmes and Watson find themselves at sea in this one, too. There is a sly sense of humor to it—and a twist ending that will leave Sherlockians gasping in surprise! It originally appeared in the October 10, 1921 issue of Short Stories.

H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and Clark Ashton Smith, with whom I assume most readers will already be familiar, contribute verse this time around, along with a few lesser-known poets. And the wonderful logos for the contents page, the Blotter, and the Morgue are by the incredibly talented Thomas Floyd.

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Your editor (me) is John Betancourt. I run Wildside Press, the small publishing company which produces this magazine, and I also write novels now & again in my spare time.

This is actually the fifth magazine I have worked on. My love of magazine editing began when I got a job in college in 1983 working as an assistant editor at Amazing Stories, the classic science fiction magazine. (It used to be a pulp, of course, but had long been a digest when I worked on it.) From there, I went on to help launch the revival of Weird Tales. After I left WT for a book-editing career, I launched a non-fiction news magazine called Horror, which covered (perhaps not surprisingly) the horror field. Horror took too much time, so I turned it over to another small press (which ultimately folded Horror a half dozen or so issues later). Then I wandered back to Weird Tales, becoming the co-publisher (with Warren Lapine of DNA Publications). After that, I started H.P. Lovecraft’s Magazine of Horror, selecting much of the first issue’s content before passing the editorial reins on to Marvin Kaye. I’m still the publisher of HPL’s.

Which brings us to Adventure Tales. I love and collect pulp magazines, and over the years Wildside Press has done quite a few pulp-related projects—from The Best of Weird Tales: 1923 to a line of facsimile reprints of pulp magazines (including issues of Spicy Detective Stories, Spicy Mystery Stories, Ghost Stories, Golden Fleece, Phantom Detective, and more.) Adventure Tales fits squarely in the middle of all the company’s pulp roots (and pulp-revival aspirations).

Assisting me on AT are Wildside Press staffers P. D. Cacek, Sean Wallace, Diane Weinstein, and Darrell Schweitzer, plus Warren Lapine of DNA Publications. Darrell edits Weird Tales magazine with George Scithers and has an encyclopedic knowledge of pulp writers and fiction. Sean Wallace is a book editor with a love for classic pulp fiction. Warren Lapine, who runs DNA Publications, is assisting with circulation management. (All the stuff I don’t want to do, like keeping track of subscribers and mailing out subscription copies.) Diane Weinstein is a terrific proofreader and is always happy to lend her considerable art direction skills. Together, I think we make a great team, and I hope that Adventure Tales becomes your new favorite fiction magazine. If not, it won’t be for lack of trying!

One note for collectors: we are producing two distinct editions of Adventure Tales, one on newsprint for casual readers (it’s much cheaper—only $5.99 per issue) and one on book paper for collectors who want to save it ($15.95 per issue). Because we need a minimum of 108 pages (our printer’s requirement) for the book paper edition, we are going to add a little extra material in to fill it out. With the first book-paper edition, we will feature The Spider Strain, a short novel by Johnston McCulley (best known as the creator of Zorro). With the second issue, we will begin the serialization of a 60,000-word novel, The Golden Dolphin, by J. Allan Dunn. The Golden Dolphin will also be available as a book from Wildside Press if you can’t wait to finish it!

You can subscribe to either version (or both). The newsprint edition is $19.95 for 4 issues; the book paper edition is $29.95 for 2 issues, postage paid in the United States.

Till next time…?

—John Betancourt

IN MEMORIAM: As this issue was about to go to press, we received news of the passing of Hugh B. Cave. He was a great writer and a wonderful person. He will be missed by all who new him. We are all grateful to have been able to work with him to create this special issue of Adventure Tales honoring him and his work.