Friday's Favorite OTR

 Nick Carter: "The Haunted Rocking Chair" 5/20/45

Nick is asked to investigate a rocking chair that seems to rock by itself. This, of course, soon evolves into a murder case.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

SKIP WEEK

 Preparing an original story for a D&D campaign and planning a variety of encounters for the players to deal with is time-consuming. I'm afraid there'll be no Wednesday and Thursday posts this week.

With my Books Worth Reading blog and Booktube channel running, I might have Skip Weeks a little more often than I used to, but I'll try to keep that to a minimum.

Cover Cavalcade

 JULY IS GUNNER & SARGE & POOCH MONTH!!!

A 1963 cover by Jerry Grandenetti. 

Friday's Favorite OTR

 X Minus One: "At the Post" 3/27/57

The fate of humanity might be in the hands of a man who handicaps horses for a living.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

Short Story Genre Survey, Part 9

 

cover art by J. Allen St. John

We finish up our Short Story Genre Survey with a horror story:

Sports

Adventure

Mystery

Crime

Horror

Science Fiction

Fantasy

Western

War

Sometimes, to enjoy a story to its fullest, you have to fully put yourself in the mind-set of the protagonist. "Vampire Village" (Weird Tales, November 1932), by Edmund Hamilton, is such a story.

Hamilton, by the way, wrote this one under the pseudonym Hugh Davidson. It's a name he used sometimes for his gothic horror tales, to separate those tales from the cosmic-level science fiction he was known for under his own name.

Anyway, "Vampire Village" is narrated by one of two Americans backpacking across Europe. They are warned about vampires in one village and the narrator is given a cross. The Americans, naturally, discount the possibility of vampires. So, when the next village they find is indeed inhabited by the undead, only that cross - still in the narrator's pocket - gives them a chance of living through the night.

It's a fun and atmospheric story, hitting the right level of gothic horror to make it work. But a reader might be a little bothered by just how darn DENSE the two Americans seem to be. It is mind-numbingly obvious that the villagers are vampires. How do these two idiots not see it sooner?

Well, the answer is simple. We live in a world where vampires are fictional. We are reading about a world where vampires might very well be real. We know this, so we wonder why the Americans don't catch on sooner.

The thing to remember is that the Americans don't themselves know they are living in a world where vampires might exist. As far as they know, vampires are always fictional. If we ran clues that a village was inhabited by vampires, we would simply discount those clues. We would KNOW that it can't be true.

So that the Americans don't realize they are in danger at first isn't unreasonable. They simply aren't going to shift their thinking into "Hey, vampires DO exist" until it's nearly far too late.

You can find the story online HERE. It's worth reading, but don't be too hard on the protagonists. They think they are living in our world, after all. They KNOW vampires don't exist.

Basil the Royal... Hobo?

 

cover art by Tony DeAngelo

The third and final Basil story found in the first issue of Basil the Royal Cat (January 1953) continues to show the same mix of charm and slapstick humor that made the first two stories so entertaining. Tom DeAngelo continues to provide the solid artwork and I would presume the same unidentified writer provided the script. 

Basil is still stuck in the United States with no money, no food and no one who believes he's a king. He hooks up with a couple of hoboes and ALMOST manages to bum a meal off them before they pull him aboard a passing train. They are racing fans and this train is on its way to Indianapolis ("Indian-Apples?" asks Basil. "Where is that?")

They get kicked from the train and Basil knocks on the door of a home in hopes of trading some work for a meal. That house happens to be the home of a car designer named Jet-Cat, who has build a car so fast that no driver wants to risk driving it. But without the prize money from the race, Jet-Cat and his pretty daughter will lose their home!

So when Basil knocks on the door, he's assumed to be a race car driver. Before he knows it, he's racing in the Indy 500. 

The car, predictable, goes out of control, crashing out of the race track, through a barn and literally across half the country. Basil, who has been desperately trying to find the brakes, accidentally extends a pair of wings that turn the car into an airplane.

You would think that Basil would have been briefed on all this by Jet-Cat before the race, but there you have it.

By chance, he ends up back over the race track just as he's running out of gas. He lands on the track, crosses the finish line and is declared the winner.

I'm not a race car expert, but I'm not sure leaving the track and FLYING back into the race would be considered legal. On the other hand, he did travel at least 500 miles around the country--probably more--before getting to the finish line. And no one seems to have a problem with him being the winner. So there you have it.

I guess I sound like I'm making fun of the story, but these absurdities are a part of its humor and its charm. They are strengths, not plot holes.

Basil is about to take part in a victory dinner, but the two hoboes from earlier spot a cop and pull Basil along as they run for it. The poor king still doesn't get a meal.

I've said "charm and humor" twice already, but it really is the best way of describing the Basil stories. They are sweet and funny examples of the sweet and funny animal stories that were common in the 1940s and 1950s, but have sadly faded from the cultural landscape.

You can read this story HERE.

Basil the Royal Cat ran for a total of four issues. We are leaving Basil here, but the other issues are also worth reading. The first story in the second issue still has Basil in the U.S., but he's somehow acquired a bag of money and a bag of food in between stories. (Finally contacted his embassy, perhaps?) After that, he's back in his own kingdom, dealing with warmongers, counterfeiters and other villains. 

For us, we will be moving on to the Wild West and seeing what Jonah Hex is up to.

Cover Cavalcade

  JULY IS GUNNER & SARGE & POOCH MONTH!!!

From 1962, with art by Jerry Grandenetti.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Crime Classics:"John Hayes: His Head and How They Were Parted" 10/28/53

In the early 18th Century, a British soldier pays a bounty to end his enlistment early. He goes home to his lovely wife. This does not end well.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

Short Story Genre Survey, Part 8

 

cover art by A. Leslie Ross

Sports

Adventure

Mystery

Crime

Horror

Science Fiction

Fantasy

Western

War

Adventure Novels and Short Stories was a pulp magazine that could not make up its mind. It started as Smashing Novels Magazine in 1936, but changed to Adventiure Novels Magazine for one issue in 1937, then finished up with a couple of issues titled Adventure Novels and Short Stories before closing up shop with the January 1938 issue.

But despite its inability to settle on a name (probably in an attempt to boost sales of the relatively short-lived publication), it published some pretty nifty stuff. And we will turn to that last issue to mark "Adventure" off our genre list.

n

"The Smart One" was written by Samuel Taylor, a frequent contributor to pulps during the 1930s and 1940s. This story is a short but well-written tale about a guy who thought he was smarter than anyone else. To get the girl he wants, he has to commit a murder and frame someone else for that murder. His scheme is a little complicated, but that should be no problem. Fox Phillips is confident that he's the smartest man in the Yukon.

Taylor shows himself to be an expert storyteller. He sets up the situation and introduces Fox is just a few quick paragraphs, but his prose flows along in a natural manner and doesn't seem rushed at all. We learn that Fox, who owns the local trading post, is--well, he's less than honest. There's a girl he wants to marry, but the girl's father doesn't like Fox and won't give permission.

But then someone else steps into the picture and Fox--who is, remember, convinced he's smarter than everyone else--quickly conceives his murder/frame-someone-else plan. He puts that plan into effect, convinced that nothing can go wrong.

Well, something can go wrong. Will Fox outsmart everyone when things go wrong? Well, the story can be found HERE, so learn for yourself. It's a skillfully written adventure tale and well worth reading. 

One more genre to go and our Short Story Genre Survey comes to an end. Next week, we'll tackle a horror story. 

Basil The Royal Cat Returns!

 

cover art by Tom DeAngelo

The second Basil story from Basil the Royal Cat #1 (January 1953) starts off rather innocently. When the royal kitchen is out of fish, Basil decides it would be fun if he goes fishing himself. Soon, he's at sea in a small boat, but he's not getting a bite.

The unknown writer and artist Tony DeAngelo use this to jump-start another charming and funny adventure. Basil decides to head home, but his outboard motor is out of gas. Fortunately, a plane flies by and Basil signals it by writing SOS in whipped cream on the surface of the sea.

The plane is heading for America. Basil is thrilled by this--he's always wanted to visit America.

But Basil isn't good at planning ahead. Once in the USA, he discovers he can't get food without paying for it. And, by golly, no one takes him seriously when he tells them he's a king!

He gets a job at Coney Island, but is soon mortified to discover the job requires him to regularly get dunked in a tub of water as part of an arcade game. 

But Basil isn't completely hapless. He rigs the trap door he drops through so that it won't open. Unfortunately, that gets him fired. The story ends with a nice bit of symmetry--Basil is again fishing and again not catching anything.

Like the Basil story we looked at last week, this tale has charm and humor brought to life by DeAngelo's pleasant pencil work. Funny animal stories were once an important and perpetually entertaining part of the medium of comic books. It's really a shame they have disappeared from that medium. 

Will Basil ever get a meal? We'll look at the last story from this issue next week and perhaps we'll find out. 

Cover Cavalcade

 JULY IS GUNNER & SARGE & POOCH MONTH!!!

A 1962 cover by Jerry Grandenetti.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 The Chase: "Penny-Pinching Boarding House Owners" 2/8/53

You might think that stealing money from a dead man would be a safe way of getting rich, but you'd be wrong.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

Short Story Genre Survey, Part 7

 

Cover artist uncredited

Today, we turn to a life of crime.

Sports

Adventure

Mystery

Crime

Horror

Science Fiction

Fantasy

Western

War

In the 1950s, there was a surfeit of writers who could turn out crackerjack hard-boiled crime stories on a regular basis. It was a Golden Age for the genre.

One of those writers is Gil Brewer. His story "With This Gun" is an example of how good he was. Published in the March 1951 issue of Detective Tales, the story is just eight pages long. Within that eight pages, Brewer introduces and defines the key characters, sets up the situation and brings it all to a satisfying conclusion.

Danny is a man who had done some petty thefts when he was young. His older brother Tad was already a crook, but didn't want Danny going down the same road. So he beat the crap out of Danny.

After a stint in the army, Danny opens a bar and does okay for himself. But then he meets the sexy bombshell Joan. Soon, Danny is in love with her, but she wants more out of life than what Danny can give her. The small bar isn't enough. But what if Danny robs the weekly receipts of a swanky beach club that's near his bar? THEN Joan will be happy and they can get married.

That Joan is a double-crossin' femme fatale is obvious to any reader. So you read along expecting her to either run out on Danny with the money or kill him. But her plan is actually more complex. And perhaps Danny's brother Tad might have a role to play in all this.

It's a great story, siccinct without being rushed with an unexpected twist at the end. It's a prime example of exactly why the 1950s was indeed a Golden Age for hard-boiled fiction.

I'm afraid I don't have a link to find this one online. It is included in the superb anthology of Brewer's fiction Redheads Die Quickly.

Basil The Royal Cat

 

cover art by Tom DeAngelo

Like Travelin' Toughy; like Beanbags; like Sir Spot the Lion-Hearted Leopard; like Tommy the Time-Travelin' Cat; like Super Rabbit. Basil the Royal Cat had a tragically short career (4 issues) before disappearing into Comic Book Limbo.

Basil's first issue (January 1953) starts off with a fun story that effectively introduces us to the protagonist. Basil is king of a nation of cats. He wants to impress the Princess, because he likes her.

He shares his concern with Fagin, his prime minister. Fagin, though, sees this as an opportunity to do away with Basil and take over the kingdom. He proposes that the king fight Leo the Unbeaten Lion in the Arena. But he won't really fight Leo. Instead, Fagin will put on a lion costume and throw the fight.

Of course, Fagin is planning on allowing the real Leo to fight the unsuspecting Basil.

Basil, who doesn't come across as the brightest bulb in the lamp, falls for this. He enters the Arena during the Games, announcing that he will fight Leo armed with only a chair. Fagin doesn't even wait for the seemingly inevitable conclusion. 

Basil wins via pure dumb luck. He does indeed impress the Princess, then (still having no idea Fagin set him up) goes back to the palace to see Fagin. Fagin's parrot rats out the rotten prime minister. Fagin runs for it. Basil finds out he fought a real lion and faints.

The unidentified writer and artist Tom DeAngelo gave us a charming, funny tale with a protagonist who might be less than competent but is certainly likeable. Basil's career, as I said, will be short. But like so many other short-lived comic book characters, the world is better because of his existence. 

Next week--oh, what the heck. I like Basil. We'll take a look at another of his adventures next week. 

Cover Cavalcade

  JUNE IS AVENGERS vs JLA MONTH!!!

February 1976: The Avengers cover is by Gil Kane and the JLA cover by Dick Giordano.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Black Museum: "The Canvas Bag" 1952

A woman makes an unwise decision regarding what man she runs off with.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

Short Story Genre Survey, Part 6

 

cover artist unidentified

Today, we ride out to the Wild West.

Sports

Adventure

Mystery

Crime

Horror

Science Fiction

Fantasy

Western

War

Elmore Leonard's sparse, powerful prose made just about every short story he wrote a fascinating and engrossing read. He dived right into a story, pulling the reader in with him and not letting that reader go until the story ended,

For example, there's "Apache Medicine" (originally titled "Medicine"). Published in the May 1952 issue of Dime Western Magazine, it starts with an army scout named Kleecan meeting a drunken Indian while out on the trail.

The Indian is Juan Pony, the beloved son of Pondichay. Pondichay is a skilled warrior and leader who has only recently been brought back to the reservation at the cost of 41 dead soldiers and civilians, so getting him mad again would not be a good idea.

But Juan is drunk and feeling bloodthirsty. Kleecan, defending himself, has no choice but to kill him.

He buries the body, but knows it's likely that Pondichay will eventually find the grave and want vengeance. Kleecan, though, doesn't have that much time to worry about it before he's taken hostage by four outlaws who force him to be their guide.

This, though, might be a good thing. Kleecan has two problems--Pondichay and the outlaws. But, if can work things correctly, he might be able to use the latter problem to solve the former.

It's a short story--only 10 pages as reprinted in The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard. But it doesn't feel rushed or abrupt. Leonard was a master of picking the exact right words to tell a story without picking too many words. In these ten pages, he tells a story that properly introduces the characters and gives us a proper beginning, middle, and very satisfying ending.

You can read the story yourself HERE.

Blowing up Yet Another Super Weapon!

 

cover art by Walt Simonson

Writer David Michelinie and artist Walt Simonson bring this fun and exciting two-parter to a close with Star Wars #52 (October 1981).

Remember where we were? Luke, Leia, the droids and Chewie are aboard the Tarkin, the Empire's new superweapon. They want to destroy it. Darth Vader is also aboard and, sensing Luke's presence, is setting a trap. A cadre of Imperial officers, tired of their comrades regularly getting force-choked by Vader, are planning to assassinate him.

In this issue, we learn that Lando, who had not been assigned to the mission, stowed away on the Millennium Faclon to prove he is indeed now a loyal member of the Rebellion.

This latter plot twist is a happy one, as Lando manages to run a con on some stormtroopers to keep them from confiscating the ship.

Aboard the Tarkin, the Rebel party splits up. Chewie and the droids are to take out the power source for the tractor beam, which Chewie does in a magnificent manner--he throws a stormtrooper into the generator. 

Leia is to secure an escape pod for leaving the ship. She doesn't have as much luck. Though she kills a number of stormtroopers, she has to run for it.

Luke is taking an explosive to the reactor room that powers the superweapon. Vader is waiting for him, but one of those dissatisfied officers opens an airlock in an attempt to blow Vader into space. Both he and Luke manage to claw their way to safety, but Luke has lost his chance to sabotage the weapon.

With some help from R2, who plugs into the ship's computer and uses a deluge of fire-fighting foam to help Luke escape from stormtroopers, everyone rejoins near the hangar deck. 

They steal a transport and escape the Tarkin. Lando, in the Falcon, saves them from some TIE fighters and takes them aboard. Vader comes after them with his personal fighter, but Luke improvises a tactic that leaves Vader's ship damaged. 

The Tarkin attempts to destroy the Falcon with the superweapon, but it turns out that Leia, while running from the escape pods, had taken an opportunity to rewire the weapon. It essentially backfires and blows up the Tarkin.

As I mentioned last week, Star Wars Expanded Universe stories revisited the "Empire has a new superweapon" idea too often, but individual examples of this were often great stories in and of themselves. THIS is a great story. The action aboard the Tarkin is fast-paced, exciting and allows eash of the protagonists to show off his or her skills. Lando's surprise inclusion fits into the tale perfectly. The idea of Imperial officers wanting to kill Vader because he's always killing them is an excellent idea. Simonson's art continues to bring this version of the Star Wars universe to vivid life. 

And Chewie destroying the tractor beam by throwing a stormtrooper into it is the best thing ever.

Next week, we'll return to Earth and visit Basil the Royal Cat.

Cover Cavalcade

  JUNE IS AVENGERS vs JLA MONTH!!!

From February 1975. Nick Cardy drew the JLA cover and Ron Wilson drew the Avengers.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Dragnet: "The Big Press" 6/15/50

Women are getting mugged and beaten by the same two guys. Friday is tasked with catching them.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

Short Story Genre Survey, Part 5

 

Sports

Adventure

Mystery

Crime

Horror

Science Fiction

Fantasy

Western

War

I've added a category. Today, we'll be looking at a mystery that is a traditional whodunit. I realized that we also need a category for hard-boiled crime stories. Some of them do have a whodunit element, but its not a necessary component and I think you can consider traditional mysteries and noirish crime tales to be separate genres.

Anyway, as I said, we'll be looking at a traditional whodunit--this one by the Queen of Whodunits, Agatha Christie. Gee whiz, the woman was brilliant. Her mysteries are fair-play. The clues are always there for us to see. But they are so casually dropped into the story that we easily miss them.

"A Christmas Tragedy" (originally titled "The Hat and the Alibi") was published in the January 1930 issue of The Story-Teller. It's part of a series of stories in which the clever Miss Marple is at a gathering with friends. In each story, a friend tells of an experience that includes a mystery. Miss Marple, of course, inevitably figures out the mystery part of it.

This time, it's Miss Marple's turn to tell a tale. And it's a good one. She tells about a time that she realized a husband was planning to murder his wife and make it look like an accident. But she has no proof and knows the wife won't believe her.

Then the wife was murdered. But it's not an accident. It's obviously a murder. She was bashed over the head in her hotel room.

But the husband has a solid alibi. He couldn't have done it. It was, the police conclude, a burglar she caught in the room.

This doesn't sit well with Miss Marple. But she concedes that the husband does indeed have an alibi for the time his wife was murdered.

Or so it seems...

It's a story I can't summarzie any further without spoilers. The clues are there and the solution is clever and satsifying. This is the sort of puzzle that Christie did better than anyone else. I'm afraid I don't have a link to take you directly to the story this time, but its worth searching out. It's available in the anthologies The Thirteen Problems and The Complete Short Stories of Agatha Christie.