If you missed 1921…
1922 saw a tapering off of fantastic material. 1921 had offered thirty pieces while both 1922 and 1923 only just under twenty each. The number of big novel serials went down as well. What increased was stories by Philip M. Fisher, who was something of a latter day William Hope Hodgson with creepy tales of the sea including his most famous “Fungus Isle”. The better ones would be reprinted by Mary Gnaedinger at Famous Fantastic Mysteries in the 1940s. Of the novels we did get, three were by Edgar Rice Burroughs, so ERB fans will be happy. A. Merritt, Ray Cummings, Captain Dingle, John Blighton and J. U. Giesy and Junius B. Smith were the others. The Apes of Devil’s Island by John Cunningham is the single new novelist. (And he is a one-hit wonder.)
1922
Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs (February 18-April 1, 1922) in seven parts was a favorite of many Barsoom fans. It has two races that are symbiotic, one being the head, the Kaldanes, and the other body, the Rykors. The Argosy artists (Monahan and Morrison) don’t ruin any of the surprises like later illustrators. Thanks to ERBzine for the illos.
“The Gold Bug Sweepstakes” by Wolcott LeClear Beard (March 4, 1922)
“Worlds Within Worlds” by Philip M. Fisher Jr. (May 13, 1922) was reprinted in Super Science and Fantastic Stories, April 1945.
“Ghost Lights” by Hamilton Thompson (June 17, 1922)
“The Peppermint Test” by Ray Cummings (June 24, 1922)
“Lights” by Philip M. Fisher Jr. (July 15, 1922) was reprinted in Famous Fantastic Mysteries, December 1939.
“A Jewel from the Gods” by George C. Jenks (July 22, 1922)
“The Devil of the Western Sea” by Philip M. Fisher Jr. (August 5, 1922) was reprinted in Famous Fantastic Mysteries, April 1940.
“The Street of Magnificent Dreams” by Murray Leinster (August 5, 1922) is the only Leinster piece here.
The Age-Old Kingdom by Captain A. E. Dingle (August 19- September 9, 1922) in four parts is a lost world tale. It appeared in book form as “by ‘Sinbad'”.
“Flora” by Ellis Parker Butler (August 26, 1922)
“Cloud Hawk” by Garret Smith (September 9, 1922) is the solitary Smith story. In previous years he had sold frequently.
“The Outcast” (1922) by E. F. Benson (October 7, 1922) This story originally appeared in Hutchinson’s Magazine, April 1922, only months earlier. It was reprinted in Famous Fantastic Mysteries, August 1942.
The Fire People by Ray Cummings (October 21-November 18, 1922) in five parts. This novel never received a paperback edition like so many of his others.
“By Another Sea” by George Sterling (December 2, 1922) This is a poem rather than a story. Sterling was famous around this time for A Wine of Wizardry (1909), a book that influenced Clark Ashton Smith.
“History of the ‘Tarzan’ Novels” by an unknown author (December 9, 1922) is perhaps the first of many articles about ERB’s famous creation. By 1922, ERB and Tarzan were popular enough to warrant such a summation.
Tarzan and the Golden Lion by Edgar Rice Burroughs(December 9, 1922- January 20, 1923) in seven parts . This novel takes Tarzan back to Opar and its vaults of treasure. Richard A. Lupoff wrote in Edgar Rice Burroughs: Master of Adventure (1975):
Tarzan and the Golden Lion was a step down in quality from Tarzan the Untamed and Tarzan the Terrible, but with the next book in the series, Tarzan and the Ant Men, Burroughs brought the series to its peak of invention.
“The Breath of Marmo” by Everett Wardell (December 23, 1922)
“Kick” by Philip M. Fisher Jr. (December 30, 1922)
1923
In 1923 the rival fantastic magazine, Weird Tales, premiered in March. “The Unique Magazine” paid slowly and poorly so it may not have been an immediate threat to Argosy All-Story Weekly. I suspect that writers like Murray Leinster, Ray Cummings and Otis Adelbert Kline sold their Argosy rejects to WT.
“The Missing Mondays” by Homer Eon Flint (January 20-27, 1923) in two parts. This story would remain uncollected until 2015’s The 26th Golden Age of Science Fiction Megapack.
“The Mummy” by Fred Jackson (March 3, 1923) is a surprise. Fred Jackson was H. P. Lovecraft’s least favorite author. I hadn’t realized Jackson had written a story that actually qualifies as “fantastic”.
“The Mysterious Disappearance” by William Thomas Gilliland (March 31, 1923)
“The Apes of Devil’s Island” by John Cunningham (April 7-28, 1923 ) in four parts
“From Time’s Dawn” by B. Wallis (April 7, 1923) was reprinted in Super Science and Fantastic Stories, December 1944 and Fantastic Novels Magazine, May 1950. For more B. Wallis and his cousin, George C. Wallis, go here. For more on giant and killer insects, go here.
“A Bunch of Keys” by Philip M. Fisher Jr. (April 21, 1923)
The Moon Maid by Edgar Rice Burroughs (May 3-June 2, 1923) in five parts. This is the first part of a trilogy that includes The Moon Men and “Red Hawk”. Visitors to the Moon find a race of humans hunted by the evil Kalkars. The hero and his new girl flee to Earth, bringing the Kalkars after them. The centaur-like Va-Gas are quite visually memorable. The novel was reprinted in Modern Mechanics and Inventions, November 1928-February 1929).
“The Owl Man” by John D. Swain (May 3, 1923)
“The Thought Machine” by Ray Cummings (May 26, 1923) This a Tubby Maguire story and it was reprinted in Marvel Stories, April 1941.
“The New Sun” by J. S. Fletcher (July 1, 1923) Fletcher was a famous British writer of Mystery novels. Julian Symons placed him in the group of boring writers called “The Humdrums”. He was reportedly the Prime Minister’s favorite author. The story was reprinted from The Red Magazine, July 1, 1913.
“The Acumen of Martin McVeagh” by J. U. Giesy (July 7, 1923)
“The Three Eyed Man” by Ray Cummings (July 7, 1923) Another Tubby Maguire story. Reprinted in Avon Fantasy Reader, No. 14, 1950
“A Hatful of Trouble” by Frank Blighton (Juy 28- August 25, 1923) in five parts has a brilliant mathematician getting into trouble with the police.
“The Sleep of Ages” by Stuart Martin (August 18, 1923)
“The Face in the Abyss” by A. Merritt (September 8, 1923) is the opening novella that will be expanded with “The Snake Mother” to form the novel The Face in the Abyss. It was reprinted several times, in Amazing Stories Annual, Vol. 1 (1927), Famous Fantastic Mysteries, October 1940 and A. Merritt’s Fantasy Magazine, July 1950. Virgil Finlay got to illustrate it twice!
“The Opposing Venus” by J. U. Giesy and Junius B. Smith (October 13-November 3, 1923) in four parts. This is Semi-Dual’s twenty-ninth appearance.
“Fungus Isle” by Philip M. Fisher Jr. (October 27, 1923) was reprinted in Famous Fantastic Mysteries, October 1940. For more on this story, go here.
“The Black Jarl” by Johnston McCulley (December 1-15, 1923) is a Viking age adventure story with some witchcraft in it, in three parts. McCulley is famous as the creator of Zorro.
“Out of the Moon” by Homer Eon Flint in four parts (December 15, 1923- January 5, 1924) has an engineer exiled to the Moon after building a gigantic ray projector.
“Crab Reef ” by Theodore Goodridge Roberts (December 15, 1923) was written by one of two famous Canadian brothers. Theodore wrote The Merriest Knight stories for Blue Book. Sir Charles G. D. Roberts was Theo’s much older brother. Charles was a famous poet and writer of animal tales like Red Fox. Both brothers wrote Northerns. Theodore was father to painter, Goodridge Roberts.
Conclusion
Two more years filled with familiar names and solid fiction. Philip M. Fisher was the new kid on the block, with steady providers like Murray Leinster and Garret Smith fading away a little. Leinster may have concentrated on non-fantastic work, which he wrote quite a bit.
Next time…1924-1925
