Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Ranch Romances, Second August Number, 1957

This is a pulp that I own and read recently. That’s my copy in the scan, and it’s in halfway decent shape for a change. The cover art is by Sam Cherry. Most of his covers aren’t signed, but you can see his signature in the lower right corner of this one, although it’s backwards, meaning the art was flipped.

Edwin Booth is a familiar name to me because he wrote at least a dozen Western novels, many of them published in the Ace Doubles line. I don’t recall ever reading anything by him until now. He’s the author of this issue’s lead novella, “Once a Killer”, which finds the protagonist, Fred Irwin, returning to the hometown he left ten years earlier after killing a man in a gunfight. Everybody figured that meant he had turned into an outlaw, but in reality, he’s become a hard-working cowboy and finally saved up enough money to buy a ranch of his own. Unfortunately, he finds himself in the middle of trouble orchestrated by a crooked saloon owner who wants to take over the town and all the surrounding ranches. Naturally, Irwin comes to the aid of an old rancher and the man’s beautiful daughter, and more trouble ensues. This is a very standard plot, but Booth provides some nice action scenes and a few well-developed characters. Overall, though, his style is definitely on the bland side, and that keeps this story from having the impact it might have had otherwise. It’s not bad, and I would read Booth’s work again, but I’m not going to be on the lookout for it.

Frank C. Robertson was a long-time, very prolific Western pulpster and novelist. His short story in this issue, “Practical Woman”, is a contemporary Western set in the Fifties, a domestic drama about the marriage of a spinster schoolteacher and a hard-headed rancher. It’s well-written, as all of Robertson’s work that I’ve read is, but it’s very low-key and unexciting and really peters out in the end. Robertson was a good author, but this isn’t a very good story.

Thankfully, old reliable Walker A. Tompkins comes along next with the novelette “The Deputy’s Daughter”. In this one, a young cowboy who buys a ranch finds himself framed for murder by the local cattle baron who wants to take over his spread. His only hope is the deputy sheriff’s beautiful blond daughter, who takes a likin’ to him and believes he’s innocent. This is a fast-moving, very entertaining yarn that suffers a little from the fact that it’s not a novella or even an actual novel. I felt like it could have used some room to develop the plot and characters more, and because of that, the ending feels a little rushed. I still liked it quite a bit, though.

“Heritage of Wrath” by M.E. Bradshaw (Marjory Bradshaw) is a Mountie story about a young RCMP officer who has to arrest the father of the girl he loves for murder, which makes her break off their engagement because she refuses to believe he’s guilty. Our Mountie hero has to dig deeper into the case to find out what really happened. This is an okay tale with a somewhat disappointing ending. Bradshaw published two dozen stories during the Fifties, all of them in RANCH ROMANCES.

Stephen Payne was very prolific, turning out several hundred stories for various Western pulps and digests between 1925 and 1970, along with a handful of novels. “Killer’s Conscience” in this issue is narrated by a 14-year-old ranch kid whose father was convicted of a murder he didn’t commit and sent to prison. The narrator’s encounter with an outlaw may hold the key to clearing his father’s name. This is a solid, well-written story that I enjoyed.

There’s also an installment of a serialized novel, Philip Ketchum’s THE STALKERS, that I didn’t read. I may have the book version of that one. I’ll have to check my shelves.

I should mention, as well, that there are several excellent interior illustrations by Everett Raymond Kinstler. I don’t talk about interior illustrations much, and I probably should. Kinstler was one of the very best at those.

Overall, considering how highly I rate many of the 1950s issues of RANCH ROMANCES, this one is probably a little below average. All of the stories kept me reading, but none of them really stood out as being top-notch, either. The ones by Tompkins and Payne are easily the best of the bunch, and the one by Booth is worth reading. Maybe don’t rush to your shelves to see if you have a copy, though.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Lariat Story Magazine, November 1931

Although not as common as the iconic trio of stalwart cowboy, gun-totin' redhead, and wounded geezer, or the poker game that erupts in gunplay, or the shootout that takes place inside or in front of a barber shop, there's a scene that shows up on Western pulp covers from time to time featuring some gun-hung hombre standing in front of a wanted poster bearing his name and likeness. The November 1931 issue of LARIAT STORY MAGAZINE features one such cover. I don't know who did the artwork. I tend to prefer the later issues of LARIAT STORY, but these early issues have some good authors in their pages, too. This issue includes stories by Harry F. Olmsted, Stephen Payne, John G. Pearsol, Ray Humphreys, Dabney Otis Collins, and Frank Carl Young. Miles Overholt is mentioned on the cover, but isn't actually in this one, according to the Fictionmags Index. I don't own this issue, but Olmsted, Pearsol, and Payne are always worth reading.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Exciting Western, January 1947

This is a pulp that I own and read recently. That’s my copy in the scan, complete with a little scribbling on a dramatic Sam Cherry cover that I like. EXCITING WESTERN has become one of my favorite Western pulps because I really enjoy two of the series that ran regularly in its pages.

One of those series is, of course, the Tombstone and Speedy stories by W.C. Tuttle. The lead novella in this issue, “Trail of the Flame”, finds our intrepid heroes, range detective Tombstone Jones and Speedy Smith, enjoying some unexpected and newfound wealth in the form of a reward they received for capturing a notorious outlaw. Despite that, they run smack-dab into trouble—literally—when there’s a collision between the buggy they’ve bought and a fella on horseback fleeing from some pursuers. This lands the duo in the middle of a case involving a fabulously valuable gem, a herd of stolen polo ponies, a wealthy eastern dude who has come west, a town south of the border that’s a bandit stronghold, and a sinister Chinese smuggler. As you can tell, Tuttle crams a lot of plot into this yarn, and to be honest, it doesn’t hold together quite as well as some of the other stories in the series. But there’s plenty of action, the story races along at a fast clip, the banter is genuinely amusing, and Tombstone and Speedy are as likable as ever. As always, I really enjoyed reading it.

The other long-running series in EXCITING WESTERN that I like a lot is that featuring Arizona Ranger Navajo Tom Raine, the son of a famous lawman who was raised by the Navajo after his father was murdered in a range war. This series was started by Lee Bond writing under the house-name Jackson Cole, and C. William Harrison is known to have written many of the stories, too. I have a pretty strong hunch that the novelette “Loot of the Lobo Legion” in this issue is by Harrison. He’s a more polished and less formulaic writer than Bond. (Don’t get wrong, I enjoy Bond’s work, too.) In this story, Raine is sent to investigate the mysterious lynchings of three men, but when he arrives on the scene, he discovers that they were actually murdered before they were strung up. It appears that the local cattle baron is making a land grab and trying to get rid of the smaller ranchers in the area, but everything may not be exactly as it seems at first. Harrison’s Navajo Tom Raine stories usually have some sort of mystery angle to them, which is another thing that makes me believe he wrote this one. It’s a well-plotted tale, not much action until the end, but still very entertaining. Every time I read one of these, I find myself wanting to write a Navajo Tom Raine story myself. He’s a fine character.

I read another story by Barry Scobee not long ago and enjoyed it quite a bit, so I was predisposed to like his story in this issue, a novelette called “Hated Wire”. It has an intriguing premise: a cattle baron fences off his entire spread with barbed wire and has only one gate into the place. Any outsiders who venture onto the wrong side of the fence are never seen or heard from again. A neighboring rancher sets out to find out what happened to one of the men who disappeared. There’s a bizarre late twist which kind of comes out of left field, but it’s the sort of thing I generally like. However, in this case, I just didn’t care for the story. Something about the style rubbed me the wrong way, and none of the characters are likable, even the protagonist. This one might strike some other readers completely differently, but for me it’s a misfire.

Stephen Payne’s short story “Old Timer” is an unacknowledged reprint from the April 7, 1934 issue of STREET & SMITH’S WESTERN STORY MAGAZINE. It’s a well-written, low-key, poignant tale about an old range rider who gives up cowboying to become a farmer in partnership with an old friend. There’s no action and the entire story is character-driven, but I liked it anyway. I need to read more of Payne’s work.

Gunnison Steele was really Bennie Gardner. He was a top-notch writer who did some fine novels for the Western character pulps, but he was great with short stories, too, like this issue’s “The Meanest Man”. In this one, a rancher robs the local bank, kills the banker, and gets away with it, but then his partner turns him in. But is that what actually happened? Gardner throws in a clever way of getting to this story’s resolution and I enjoyed this one.

Sam Brant was a house-name, so we don’t know who wrote “Manhunters Ain’t Human”, the short story that wraps up this issue. The plot seems pretty simple: a merciless lawman tracks down a killer, but again there are some twists waiting for the reader that lead to a very satisfying conclusion. This story has a very similar feel to the Gunnison Steele story, which makes me suspect that Bennie Gardner might have been the author here, too, but again, it’s impossible to say for sure.

This is a good issue of EXCITING WESTERN. Not an outstanding one due to the Scobee story I didn’t like and the slightly below average Tombstone and Speedy yarn. But the Navajo Tom Raine novelette is excellent and the short stories are all solid. I’m already looking forward to the next issue of EXCITING WESTERN that I read.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Masked Rider Western, January 1944

I enjoyed that Masked Rider novel by Donald Bayne Hobart I read recently enough to read another one. I don’t own the January 1944 issue of MASKED RIDER WESTERN, but I read it on the Internet Archive. (Actually, I read a downloaded PDF on my Kindle Fire. I’m not a fan of reading books or pulps on the computer.) I believe the cover is by George Gross.

The Masked Rider novel in this issue, “The Devil’s Range”, finds the Masked Rider and Blue Hawk in South Dakota, which places the action after November 2, 1889, when Dakota Territory became the states of North and South Dakota. The cattlemen in the area are being plagued by a gang of rustlers known as the Black Band because of the black masks they wear. They’re also having trouble with a price-gouging town boss who controls the flow of supplies in the area. The Masked Rider and Blue Hawk operate separately for the most part in this yarn. Blue Hawk trails the rustlers to locate their hideout and winds up in a heap of trouble. The Masked Rider, in his Wayne Morgan identity, investigates the crooked town boss and winds up infiltrating his gang—and pinning on a badge as the local sheriff. It’s an odd role for the notorious Robin Hood Outlaw to play, but Hobart spins the plot strands of this one very skillfully. While some of it was pretty predictable, there are some twists that actually took me by surprise, and that’s always a very welcome bonus. Hobart’s distinctive style has really grown on me. He’s becoming one of my favorite Western pulp authors, and “The Devil’s Range” is a very solid entry in a good series.

H.A. DeRosso has a well-deserved reputation among Western fans as being one of the finest authors of Western noir stories and novels. His short story in this issue, “Killers Also Die”, doesn’t really fit in that mold, although it does have a hardboiled tone. It’s a more traditional tale about a young man seeking vengeance on the man who murdered his father. However, things don’t turn out as they first appear to be.  What actually happens is very predictable, making this a story in need of a twist that never happens. It’s well-written, though, and an entertaining traditional Western story, but not one you’d give to someone who’s never read DeRosso before as an example of what he’s known for.

I’ve seen Clinton Daingerfield’s name in many Western pulp TOCs, but I don’t recall ever reading anything by him until now. In his story “Lone Hand for Liberty”, a young cowboy is framed for the murder of his wealthy cattleman uncle. The protagonist stands to inherit the murdered man’s ranch, so he has a good motive for murder and witnesses saw him clash with the older man, too. Even though it’s pretty obvious what’s going on in this story, and one bit of business requires a pretty big suspension of disbelief, Daingerfield keeps things moving at a nice pace and I wound up enjoying the story quite a bit.

I’ve read a few stories by Mel Pitzer and thought they were okay. “Fangs of Freedom” starts out as a humorous animal story, and I had my doubts about it. It becomes more serious as it goes along. There’s a romance angle that would have made it a good fit in RANCH ROMANCES, but it’s secondary to the story of a collie being accused of turning into a cattle killer. Things come to a satisfactory conclusion, making this a minor but reasonably entertaining yarn, which seems to be a good description of everything I’ve read so far by Mel Pitzer.

Stephen Payne was a prolific and widely respected Western pulp author. I have one of his novels and several collections of his stories but haven’t read any of them. I know his reputation, though, which is why I was pretty disappointed in his novelette “Borrowed Hosses” in this issue. It's a slapstick comedy about two cowboys named Bucko and Gumbo, in much the same vein as Syl McDowell’s Swap and Whopper stories. (The illustration that goes with Payne’s story is by the same artist who did the illustrations for McDowell’s series.) I thought this one was just terrible and only made it a few pages before giving up. However, it prompts me to want to read one of Payne’s more serious stories to see if I like it better, or if he’s just one of those popular authors who don’t connect with me for some reason.

Since most of the pages in this issue are given over to a good Masked Rider novel, I have to say that I liked it overall, although none of the other stories are particularly outstanding and there was the one I didn’t finish. I’ll probably read something else by Donald Bayne Hobart in the near future, but maybe not another Masked Rider novel so soon. I make no promises, though.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Rodeo Romances, April 1947

RODEO ROMANCES seems to have been more oriented toward actual romance stories than the other two Western romance pulps published by the Thrilling Group, RANCH ROMANCES and THRILLING RANCH STORIES. Most of the covers are very placid depictions of happy couples. This one, however, features some good ol' bulldoggin' in a painting by Sam Cherry. I've been to quite a few rodeos, and the bulldogging is always exciting, not to mention dangerous for the cowboys competing. The authors in this issue are mostly familiar names: Johnston McCulley, Joe Archibald, Harold F. Cruickshank, Stephen Payne, and Cliff Walters.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Western Supernovel Magazine, May 1933

I came across the listing for this pulp in the Fictionmags Index and was surprised to find a Western pulp I'd never even heard of. The explanation for that may be that this is the only issue of WESTERN SUPERNOVEL MAGAZINE. The next issue, the title was changed to COMPLETE WESTERN BOOK MAGAZINE, which I had heard of. This lone issue under the original title sports a cover by Joseph Cragin, an artist I'm not familiar with, and features a novella by Dane Coolidge, who is supposed to be a pretty good Western writer. I haven't read any of his work yet, and I need to get around to that. Also in this issue are a couple of reprints by Stephen Payne and Clee Woods, both of which appeared originally in the pulp WESTERN RANGERS a few years earlier, and another original novella by Edgar L. Cooper. COMPLETE WESTERN BOOK MAGAZINE probably is a better title, but I kind of like WESTERN SUPERNOVEL MAGAZINE.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Western Aces, June 1942

This is kind of an unusual issue of WESTERN ACES because it doesn't have a story by J. Edward Leithead in it. His yarns appeared in almost every issue of WESTERN ACES during the Forties, sometimes several in an issue under his real name and pseudonyms. It seemed that way, anyway, which is okay with me because I really like his work. But even though there's no Leithead, this issue does have a good cover by Norman Saunders and a lead story by one of my other favorite Western authors, Walker A. Tompkins. Also on hand are Tom J. Hopkins, Stephen Payne, Orlando Rigoni, R.S. Lerch, and a handful of lesser-known pulpsters. I've enjoyed every issue of WESTERN ACES I've ever read and I'm sure this one is entertaining, as well.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Golden West Romances, February 1950

This Western romance pulp from the Thrilling Group lasted for only six issues in 1949-50, but I think there's a reason it ended when it did. The final issue of GOLDEN WEST ROMANCES came out approximately the same time as the first issue of RANCH ROMANCES after Ned Pines bought the long-running title from Warner Publications. Why publish an imitation of RANCH ROMANCES when you can publish the real thing? So maybe the six issues of this pulp should be considered a dry run of sorts for the Thrilling Group incarnation of RANCH ROMANCES. This particular issue is the third out of six and features a fine cover by Kirk Wilson, who did many great covers for RANCH ROMANCES. The redhead reminds me of Barbara Stanwyck, which is a good thing. Inside are stories by some fine writers including Wayne D. Overholser, Johnston McCulley, Stephen Payne, John Jo Carpenter (John Reese), Roger Dee (best remembered for his science fiction, Harold F. Cruickshank (best remembered for his air war yarns), and Francis H. Ames. With authors like that, I'm sure GOLDEN WEST ROMANCES was a magazine worth reading during its short life.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Thrilling Ranch Stories, March 1936

Although THRILLING RANCH STORIES was considered to be a Western romance pulp, the covers often featured gun-blazing action like this one, which I think may be by Richard Lyon. The authors inside are Western pulp action aces, too: Leslie Scott (as A. Leslie), Stephen Payne, Lee Bond, Syl MacDowell, Bruce Douglas, Eugene A. Clancy, and house-name Jackson Cole, who could be any of those guys (but if I had to bet, I'd say in this case it was probably Lee Bond, for some reason). I've never read an issue of THRILLING RANCH STORIES. I'm not sure I own any. I need to check on that.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Rodeo Romances, October 1948

This cowgirl looks a little clean and unmussed to have just bulldogged that dogie, but hey, artistic license, right? I'm not going to complain about a pretty girl painted by Sam Cherry and a beautiful use of red and yellow on a Western pulp cover. Inside this issue of RODEO ROMANCES are stories by Stephen Payne, Johnston McCulley, Chuck Martin, Clinton Dangerfield, and house-name Jackson Cole. Had I been standing in front of a newsstand in 1948 with an extra dime and nickel in my pocket, I probably wouldn't have bought it (it has romance in the title, so I likely would've thought it was full o' that dang mushy stuff), but I might well have taken a closer look at that cover. And given those authors, I probably would have enjoyed the stories, too, to be honest.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Thrilling Ranch Stories, December 1934

Now there's an Angry, Gun-Totin' Redhead for yuh! Thet cowboy with her don't look so stalwart, though, and there's no sign of a Wounded Old Geezer. THRILLING RANCH STORIES was the Thrilling Group's answer to RANCH ROMANCES, but the stories had plenty of action, too, judging by most of the covers. This issue features stories by L.P. Holmes, A. Leslie Scott, Cliff Farrell, Syl McDowell, Stephen Payne, Wilton West, and house-name Jackson Cole. All those hombres knew how to burn plenty of powder in their yarns.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Wild West Weekly, July 27, 1929

Remington Schuyler was the regular cover artist for WILD WEST WEEKLY during the late Twenties. I can't say that I'm a huge fan of his work, but I like this one pretty well. WILD WEST WEEKLY always published a lot of series and house-name stories, of course, and this issue is no exception. The lead feature for a number of years was the Billy West/Circle J series, published under the house-name Cleve Endicott. The one in this issue is actually by Phil Richards, who wrote the Kid Calvert series in WESTERN ACES that I liked a lot. Also on hand are J. Allan Dunn with a Whistlin' Kid story as by Emery Jackson; Galen C. Colin with a Lum Yates story as by Collins Hafford; a Looshus Carey story by Houston Irvine (don't know either of those names); a Ranny Kid story by Clee Woods (I've at least heard of Clee Woods and seen his name on many Western pulp TOCs), and non-series stories by Stephen Payne, Archie Joscelyn, Paul S. Powers (twice, as by Philip F. Deere and Kent Bennett), and Gip Akin, whoever he was.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Western Short Stories, June 1952

With all the action on this cover, you know it has to be the work of Norman Saunders. Seven guys, a beautiful girl with a quirt and a six-gun, and two stampeding horses. I'm not sure anybody but Saunders could have packed that much into a cover and made it work. As for the authors inside this issue of WESTERN SHORT STORIES, it's a fine group: H.A. DeRosso, D.B. Newton, Joseph Chadwick, Stephen Payne, Ray Gaulden, Joseph Payne Brennan, Ray Townsend, Roger Dee (Roger D. Aycock, probably better remembered for his science fiction), and a number of lesser-known authors including John Lumsden, Clem Yager, Jay Arrow, and house-name Ken Jason. Steve Frazee is listed on the cover but doesn't actually have a story in this issue, according to the Fictonmags Index.

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Adventure, December 15, 1927

As we've discussed before, nothing says "adventure" quite like a pith helmet, and this cover by V.E. Pyles is proof of that. And, of course, the pulp's title is ADVENTURE, so that's a clue, too. As is the line-up of authors inside for a pulp-savvy reader: Arthur O. Friel, J.D. Newsom, Raoul Whitfield, Hugh Pendexter, Stephen Payne, F.R. Buckley, and Leonard H. Nason. The editor during this era was Anthony M. Rud, a well-known adventure pulpster himself. So the readers certainly knew what they would be getting for their quarter, and they probably were well-pleased with it, too.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Ranch Romances, Second May Number 1946

Most of the RANCH ROMANCES covers in the mid-Forties were still a little on the sweet side, but they were starting to show some action now and then, as in this one by an artist I'm not familiar with, Will Gimby. There are certainly some hardboiled authors inside this issue, H.A. DeRosso and Joseph Chadwick, along with RANCH ROMANCES regulars L.P. Holmes, Stephen Payne, and James Routh. Appears to be an issue well worth reading. 

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Lariat Story Magazine, June 1934

I think this is a very dramatic and effective cover by Rudolph Belarski on this issue of LARIAT STORY MAGAZINE. "Real Cowboy Stories by Real Cowboys", the cover copy says. I'm not sure that's 100% true of all the authors in this issue. Walt Coburn and Eugene Cunningham certainly did some cowboying when they were young. I think Stephen Payne may have, too. I don't have any idea about James P. Olsen, Bruce Douglas, Hubert Roussel, or Ralph Condon. And John Starr was a house-name, so I'm pretty sure he never forked a bronc. Whoever really wrote the story attributed to him in this issue may have, though. Real cowboys or not, I think this looks like a fine issue.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Dime Western, August 1933

I'm not sure that shade of red hair appears in nature, but it appears on several different DIME WESTERN covers in 1933 and it's certainly eye-catching. Equally eye-catching is the group of authors in this issue: Max Brand (Frederick Faust), T.T. Flynn, Harry F. Olmsted (twice, as himself and a Tensleep Maxon story as by Bart Cassidy), Stephen Payne, J.E. Grinstead, and John Colohan. That's a potent pack of pulpsters.

While I don't own a copy of this issue, I have read the Max Brand novella, "Guardian Guns". It was reprinted under the title "The Stage to Yellow Creek" in THE LOST VALLEY, one of the Max Brand collections published by Five Star and Leisure. It's an excellent, action-packed yarn about a stagecoach journey, a bag full of money, a gang of outlaws, and one of Faust's typical good badmen as the protagonist. I enjoyed it a lot. It's almost long enough to be considered a novel.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Thrilling Western, April 1936

This issue of THRILLING WESTERN has a nice dramatic cover, probably by Richard Lyon. I'm not sure about that, but it looks like his work to me. Inside are stories by some prolific pulpsters, including Thrilling Group stalwarts Lee Bond, Syl MacDowell (with a second story under the pseudonym Tom Gunn), Donald Bayne Hobart, and "Jackson Cole" (probably either Bond or Hobart, I'd guess, since they each have a story in this issue). Plus the well-regarded Stephen Payne and a couple of authors I'm not familiar with, James W. Egan and Victor Kaufman. Looks like an entertaining issue.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Western Short Stories, June 1949

I like the cover on this issue of WESTERN SHORT STORIES, but what's really amazing is the group of authors inside: Walker A. Tompkins, Giles A. Lutz, D.B. Newton, Roe Richmond, Stephen Payne, Joseph Wayne (either Wayne D. Overholser or Overholser in collaboration with Lewis B. Patten), Joseph Payne Brennan, Frank P. Castle, John Callahan, John H. Latham, Clark Gray, house-name Ken Jason, and somebody named Costa Carousso, the only author in the bunch I haven't heard of. There are several of my favorites in there, and several more who were consistently good Western pulpsters.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Western Action, June 1940

That's a nice dramatic cover on this issue of WESTERN ACTION. I don't know the artist, but I like his work here. Inside are two stories by Charles N. Heckelmann, one as himself and one under the house-name Mat Rand, a story by house-name Cliff Campbell, and three well-known Western pulpsters, Wayne D. Overholser, Stephen Payne, and C. William Harrison, to go along with lesser-known authors Clem Barton, Dick Robson, and Duane Yarnell. Some of those may be house-names, too, for all I know.