If you missed the last one…
The Fantastic in 1941 is the final partial year of the great run of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror in the Argosy. From 1942 to 1964, you get what you get, stories here and there with only one major novel left to appear in 1943, Earth’s Last Citadel by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore. Tarzan makes his last appearance in a novella and many other familiar Argosy authors and series saw their last stories published. 1941 brought America into World War II and signaled a change in Pulp publishing. The soft weeklies (as magazines like Argosy were known) were old news. There were hundreds of Pulps out there, each tailored to a specific interest. The War would bring the paperback into style, a trend that saw all the Pulps die off in the 1950s.
1941
“The Sinister Sapphire” by H. Bedford-Jones (January 18, 1941) is the first of a jewel themed series.
“The Long Road to Tomorrow” by Arthur Leo Zagat (March 1-22, 1941), in four parts is the sixth and final story in the saga.
“The Devil’s Garden” by Robert Arthur (March 1, 1941) is a Murchison Morks story. Reprinted in Fantasy and Science Fiction, September 1959.
“And So To Death” (aka Nightmare) by Cornell Woolrich (March 1, 1941) was filmed twice as Fear in the Night (1947) starring DeForest Kelley and Paul Kelly and Nightmare (1956) with Kevin McCarthy and Edgard G. Robinson. A man’s dream of murder proves to be too true.
“Jeopardy’s Jewel” by H. Bedford-Jones (March 8, 1941) is another jewel story.
“The Perilous Pearl” by H. Bedford-Jones (March 22, 1941) is another jewel story.
“To Heaven Standing Up” by Paul Ernst (April 15, 1941) was reprinted in Fantastic, November 1961. This was Ernst’s last story for Argosy.
“The Dawn-Seekers” by Frederick C. Painton (April 19, 1941) in two parts, was the final Time Detective tale. Reprinted in Super Science and Fantastic Stories, February 1945
April 26, 1941 saw a return to art on the cover, though not paintings.
“Blind Is the Night” by Joel Townsley Rogers (April 26, 1941)
“Don’t Be a Goose” by Robert Arthur (May 3, 1941) is Murchison Morks story.
“Shake Hands with Old Hickory” by Theodore Roscoe (May 24-June 7, 1941), in three parts. This was Roscoe’s last story for Argosy.
“The Universe Broke Down”y by Robert Arthur (June 7, 1941)
“Forward Into Battle” by Charles Marquis Warren (June 7-July 26, 1941), in eight parts is an anti-Nazi war story months before America would join the War. These types of “Future War” novels had been appearing for years. By December, they would stop being “future”.
“Just a Dreamer” by Robert Arthur (July 5, 1941) a Murchison Morks story. Reprinted in Fantasy and Science Fiction, August 1951.
“Obstinate Uncle Otis” by Robert Arthur (July 19, 1941) a Murchison Morks story. Reprinted in Fantasy and Science Fiction, April 1958. There was one more Morks story but it appeared in Argosy’s rival, Blue Book.
“But Our Hero Was Not Dead” by Manly Wade Wellman (August 9, 1941) is a story about Sherlock Holmes and is not fantastic in itself. Wellman would return to Sherlock and Watson in Sherlock Holmes’ War of the Worlds in the 1970s.
The Quest of Tarzan (aka Tarzan and the Castaways) by Edgar Rice Burroughs (August 23-September 6, 1941), in three parts. Tarzan and a group of castaways end up in a lost world of the Mayans. This was the final Tarzan story to appear in Argosy. It was also the last one Burroughs finished. With the bombing of Pearl Harbor, ERB became the oldest war correspondent in the Pacific. The story would be collected with two other short pieces in book form in 1965. Virgil Finlay must have been stoked to get to illustrate a Tarzan story!
“The Boys from Mars” by Robert Arthur (September 6, 1941)
Minions of the Shadow by William Gray Beyer (September 20-November 15, 1941) in five parts. It was published as Minions of Shadow in book form. This one doesn’t have the interplanetary elements the previous three did. Hmm…
“Killer, Go Home” by Robert Arthur (October 14, 1941) was Arthur’s final story for Argosy. Many of them would be reprinted in SF Pulps.
“Tell Me About Tomorrow” by Nelson S. Bond (December 13, 1941) is a Lobblies story. The first story appear in Scribner’s in 1937.
1942
“The Univenter” by Richard Shattuck (January 24, 1942)
“The Very Ancient Mariners” by James Norman (February 21, 1942)
“Last Stop—Earth” by George Michener (March 7, 1942)
Argosy went monthly after April 15, 1942. Covers were dedicated to war themes, not the fantastic.
“Don’t Fool with Phantoms” by Nelson S. Bond (December 1942) a Lobblies story.
1943
Familiar Science Fiction writers begin to appear in these last years, like Kuttner, Robert A. Heinlein, Philip Jose Farmer, Lester Del Rey and James E. Gunn. They begin to appear in Slicks as well, with RAH in The Saturday Evening Post, February 8, 1947 with the “Green Hills of Earth”. Science Fiction was becoming respectable.
“There Was an Island” by Henry Kuttner (January 1943)
“Jungle Interlude” by Arthur Leo Zagat (February 1943)
“By Land and Sea” by E. Hoffmann Price (March-May 1943) in three parts.
Earth’s Last Citadel by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore (April-July 1943), in four parts Reprinted in Fantastic Novels, July 1950. This was the last great novel to appear in Argosy.
1944
“Sanctuary” by E. Hoffmann Price (March 1944) was Hoffman’s last piece for Argosy.
1946
“Atoms Over America” by Murray Leinster (June-July 1946) The book publication was as The Murder of the U.S.A. as by Will F. Jenkins
1947
“Water Is for Washing” by Robert A. Heinlein (November 1947) appears for the first of two times.
1948
“The Man Who Couldn’t Die” by Hugh B. Cave (February 1948)
“Gentlemen, Be Seated!” by Robert A. Heinlein (May 1948)
“Forbidden Sanctuary” by Will F. Jenkins
1951
“The Monster” by Lester del Rey (June 1951)
1952
“Devil’s Henchman” by Will F. Jenkins (May 1952) was Murray Leinster/Will F. Jenkins’ last appearance.
1953
“Log the Man Dead” by Eugene Burdick (May 1953)
“The Man Who Owned Tomorrow” by James E. Gunn (July 1953)
“Island Feud” by Hugh B. Cave (December 1953) was Hugh B. Cave’s last.
1954
“Queen of the Deep” by Philip José Farmer (variant of Son)(March 1954)
1958
“100 Miles Up” by Frank Harvey (February 1958)
1959
“Destruct Button” by Frank Harvey (May 1959)
1964
“She Fell Among Thieves” by Robert Edmond Alter (September 1964)
Conclusion
The Fantastic in the Argosy: 1941 and Beyond is sad when you consider the good old days of 1930. If you look at the slow dribbling off here you might think the magazine died with a whimper. This isn’t really true. In 1948 The Argosy UK was born. This British version published all the best writers of the day from 1940 to 1972. Writers like Gerald Kersh, Ray Bradbury, Robert Sheckley, John Wyndham, Isak Dinesan, Joan Aiken and many others. This magazine is in many ways a different animal, and deserves its own post. And since we have finished on this end it is time to go back to 1929 and work my way back to the first days of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan and John Carter…
https://amazingstories.com/2013/03/the-james-allison-stories-dreaming-of-the-past/
