If you missed the last one…
1924-1925 proved a good two years if you liked novel serials with four by Edgar Rice Burroughs, two by Ralph Milne Farley and singles by Ray Cummings, Rufus King and Wil McMorrow. Several of these would become paperback perennials for ACE Books. For Semi-Dual fans, there was another installment of the world’s most famous ghost buster. The short stories are mixed bag with familiar names like Paul Anderson, Robert W. Sneddon, B. Wallis, E. Charles Vivian and Fred Jackson.
Thank you to Erbzine for some images.
1924
Tarzan and the Ant Men by Edgar Rice Burroughs (February 2-March 15, 1924) in seven parts. This novel continues ERB’s streak of classic Tarzan adventures with Jane safely parked at home. Obviously inspired by Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1726), Tarzan gets to feel what it is like to be a giant and the other side of the coin. ERB begins a pattern of Tarzan arriving in a place split by two factions, befriends the good guys and helps them overcome their enemies. Burroughs will use this plot over and over in future novels.
“In the Near Future” by Joseph Ivers Lawrence (February 16, 1924)
“Up From the Abyss” by Paul L. Anderson (March 22, 1924) Anderson would appear in Weird Tales this year too, with “The Cellar”. He only wrote eight stories but his potential to be a major SF writer was not realized.
“Out of the Dark” by Amabel Redman (April 12, 1924)
“Colossus of the Radio” by Leslie Ramon (April 19, 1924)
The Radio Man by Ralph Milne Farley (June 28-July 19,1924) in four parts continues Farley’s most famous series with more daring-do ont eh planet Venus. For more, go here. Reprinted in Famous Fantastic Mysteries, December 1939 January 1940 February 1940
“Half Past Twelve in Eternity” by Robert W. Sneddon (June 28, 1924) Sneddon is another talented writer who never quite got his break. He wrote the Mark Shadow series for Ghost Stories.
The Man Who Mastered Time by Ray Cummings (July 12-August 9, 1924) in five parts. Cummings writes in his foreword to the Famous Fantastic Mysteries reprint says: “The Man Who Mastered Time completes the trilogy of my tales of Matter, Space, and Time [The Girl in the Golden Atom and “The Fire People” dealing with the first two matters, respectively].” The novel has a man searching time for a beautiful young woman. (Beats the hell out of a bunch of Morlocks!) Reprinted in Fantastic Novels Magazine, March 1950 This one also become an ACE double.
Poor Little Pigeon by J. U. Giesy and Junius B. Smith (August 9-September 6, 1924) in five parts is the thirtieth novel in the series begun back in 1912. For readers back in the 1920s, Semi-Dual was the character most associated with ghostbreaking. Jules de Grandin at Weird Tales was only getting started.
“The Nameless Doom” by Charles A. King, Jr. (August 16, 1924)
Tuned Out by Rufus King (September 6-27, 1924) in four parts is a Radio ghost story, popular in Argosy. May have been inspired by Thomas Edison’s actual attempt to create a ghost phone.
The Bandit of Hell’s Bend by Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 13-October 18, 1924) in six parts was ERB’s first Western. He would write at least three more as well as put Western elements into “The Red Hawk”, published next year in 1925. This novel along with the War Chief series and The Deputy Sheriff of Comanche County (1940) won Burroughs some affection from Western Hall of Fame.
“The Symbol” by T. von Ziekursch (September 13, 1924)
“Leaping Death” by B. Wallis (October 18, 1924) was written by an author who wrote for Hugo Gernsback and Weird Tales.
The Ship of Ishtar by A. Merritt (November 8-December 13, 1924) in six parts was Merritt’s novel most like what we think of as a “Fantasy novel” today. It is a portal Fantasy in which a man is pulled from our world onto the ship that sails to amazing places. Hannes Bok would borrow the basic idea for his pastiche, The Sorcerer’s Ship (Unknown Worlds, December 1942). Bok was an unapologetic acolyte of Merritt. He even finished a couple of his fragments like The Black Wheel (1947). It was reprinted in Argosy in 1938. It was used again in Fantastic Novels, March 1948.
“Breath of Paradise” by E. Charles Vivian (November 29, 1924) was the only short story written by this novelist better known as Jack Mann.
“Aladdin, AD 1924” by A. D. Temple (December 6, 1924)
1925
“The Throw-Back” by R. S. Lerch (as by L. R. Sherman) (February 21, 1925) was written by an author who wrote prolifically for detective Pulps and Westerns but also did fantastic back-up stories for Doc Savage Magazine. Cave men and dinosaurs in a dream! Reprinted in Fantastic Novels Magazine, July 1949
The Moon Men by Edgar Rice Burroughs (February 21-March 14, 1925) in four parts is a sequel to last year’s The Moon Maid. After the events on the Moon, where the Kalkars become aware of the Earth and its people and invade, we jump through time to see how civilization has been thrown back to a more primitive state. The book was originally written as a separate anti-Communist treatise but was incorporated when nobody wanted to publish it. ERB finishes his time jumping with a sequel “The Red Hawk” and both are combined for the book version.
The Radio Beasts by Ralph Milne Farley (March 21-April 11, 1925) in four parts gives us more politics and bugs on Venus. Reprinted in Fantastic Novels Magazine, January 1941
“The Tiger Weed” by B. Wallis (April 11, 1925) sounds like a plant monster story…
“The White Chimpanzee” by Fred Jackson (August 8, 1925) This one was written by H. P. Lovecraft’s least favorite author. For their feud, go here.
“The Red Hawk” by Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 5-19, 1925) in three parts forms the last segment of ERB’s Moon sequence, with the humans defeating the Kalkars then making their peace with them.
“Creatures of the Ray” by James L. Aton (October 10, 1925) has an inventor invite his friend to witness his new invention, a machine that enlarges insects. Of course, as with such stories, things don’t go well. Working in an H. G. Wells mode here.
The Sun-Makers by Will McMorrow (November 21-December 5, 1925) in three parts has the Earth invaded by Venusians. McMorrow is working in the Wellsian invasion tradition but doesn’t develop his ideas much. There was a sequel Venus or Earth? in Argosy in 1927. Reprinted in Famous Fantastic Mysteries, December 1940
Conclusion
1924-1925 were good years for the fantastic. The publishers of Argosy All-Story Weekly are about to get more competition (Weird Tales was last year in 1923) 1926 was the year that Hugo Gernsback launched Amazing Stories. For the first year or two, Gernback will mostly reprint Verne, Wells and Poe. (Even Edgar Rice Burroughs from Munsey’s own All-Story.) But by 1928, Science Fiction magazines will lead the charge on new ideas and writers. The Age of Argosy as supreme ruler of the Fantastic will soon come to an end.
Next…1926-1927!
