June 2012

The Book Cave: Enter At Your Own Risk

Posted in Blood 'n' Thunder,PulpFest on June 28, 2012 @ 2:19 pm

Recently I was interviewed by Ric Croxton and Art Sippo, co-hosts of the popular Book Cave podcast, which caters to fans of genre fiction, comic books, and other pop-culture storytelling forms. Every year around this time they graciously allow me to plug PulpFest as well as upcoming issues of Blood ‘n’ Thunder and other Murania […]

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Pulp Historian Albert Tonik’s Collection Will Be Auctioned at PulpFest

Posted in Conventions on June 26, 2012 @ 12:21 am

Albert Tonik, long-time fan, scholar and collector of pulp magazines and related popular-culture artifacts, has decided to sell his holdings and has chosen PulpFest as the most appropriate venue to do so. Therefore, the vast majority of lots offered at this year’s Saturday-night auction will be choice items from Al’s huge collection of hardcovers, paperbacks, […]

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More on “10-20-30” Melodrama

Posted in Serials on June 25, 2012 @ 2:16 pm

In addition to providing visceral thrills, 10-20-30 “mellers” regularly trafficked in narrative devices that would later be incorporated into motion-picture serials. They often revolved around a struggle for vitally important papers: the map to hidden wealth, the deed to a home, the will to an estate, the plans to an invention, the confession to a […]

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The Movie Serial’s Precursor: “10-20-30” Stage Melodrama

Posted in Serials on June 24, 2012 @ 8:44 pm

(Have you ever wondered from whence the motion-picture serial developed? Here’s an excerpt from my upcoming book, Distressed Damsels and Masked Marauders, which explains the chapter play’s origin at some length.) From its beginnings, the motion-picture serial reflected the influences of popular-priced stage melodrama and mass-market fiction, the latter delivered to thrill-hungry readers in cheaply […]

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The Unbearable Lightness of Leo

Posted in Pulps on June 22, 2012 @ 11:24 am

Lately I’ve been revisiting the “Thrilling Group” pulp magazines published by Ned Pines, whose numerous companies included Standard Magazines, Beacon Magazines, Better Publications, and Nedor Publishing Company. Pines, as many of you know, had a fetishistic attachment to the word “Thrilling,” which he used in no less than a dozen magazine titles. (He also had […]

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Chandu? Can Do!

Posted in Blood 'n' Thunder on June 18, 2012 @ 10:13 am

I don’t remember exactly how, when or where I first learned about Chandu the Magician. Most likely I saw stills from it in Famous Monsters of Filmland, Castle of Frankenstein, or one of the other “monster mags” published during the Sixties. I do remember being intrigued by the character right away, and a little research […]

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Promising Pulp-Mag Series Characters Who Never Really Caught Fire

Posted in Pulps,Recently Read on June 16, 2012 @ 1:55 pm

One of the items for sale on our Collectibles page is the November 23, 1935 issue of Detective Fiction Weekly. The cover story is Erle Stanley Gardner’s “The Silver Mask Murders,” featuring his short-lived vigilante hero The Man in the Silver Mask. This was the last of three novelettes Gardner wrote about this Shadow/Spider/Phantom Detective […]

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Vintage Pulps Added to Collectibles Page

Posted in Collectibles For Sale on June 13, 2012 @ 11:10 pm

I’ve just added a dozen or so pulps to the Collectibles page, including a handful with stories by the late great Ray Bradbury. Half of them are science fiction, but you’ll also find Western, fantasy, detective, and general-adventure magazines for sale. Pretty good stuff, if I do say so myself. I’ll be listing a few […]

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It’s Now Easier to Start or Renew Your BLOOD ‘N’ THUNDER Subscription

Posted in Blood 'n' Thunder on June 11, 2012 @ 9:43 pm

As some of you know, the Murania Press site was in development quite a while, with work conducted in fits and starts. Chris Kalb came up with the basic design for what began as a Blood ‘n’ Thunder site, but after launching the “Classic Pulp Reprints” line last year I decided to put all my […]

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