Arthur J. Burks – Part 1: 1924-1926

Arthur Josephus Burks (1898-1974) is one of Pulp history’s most fascinating authors. Dubbed “The Million Word Man” because he wrote that many words in a year, he worked in most genres including Science Fiction and Fantasy, Horror, Sports, Detective, Western and Adventure. He started as a Weird Tales writer and quickly branched out into other markets.

Arthur J. Burks was born in Waterville, WA. During World War I, he became an officer in the Marine Corps. This experience took him to Haiti as well as the Pacific. Unlike many Pulpsters, he had actually seen jungle and the ocean and could describe it well from memory. It was from these travels that he chose his first stories to write. Using the pen name “Estil Critchie”, he penned two stories for Weird Tales in 1924. Three months later, he had abandoned the pseudonym and the byline “Arthur J. Burks” appeared on the first of hundreds of stories.

Frank Gruber in The Pulp Jungle (1967) wrote of meeting AJB for the first time in 1934:

Instead of the John-Wayne-like type of man I had visualized, Arthur turned out to be a rather short man, weighing well over two hundred pounds and wearing thick glasses. He was thirty-six or thirty-seven. He was an amazingly fast typist and could compose stories as fast as he could type.

Later that year the New Yorker published a profile on Arthur in which they called him “The King of the Pulps” and in which Arthur was quoted as saying that a pulp writer who didn’t make four hundred dollars a week wasn’t worth his salt. This unfortunate remark caused Arthur some grief for there were few if any writers of the pulps who earned that much in 1934—and Arthur certainly did not make it, although he was capable of turning out as much as two hundred thousand words a month. However, writing two hundred thousand words a month and selling two hundred thousand words were entirely different matters.

When AJB started he had two markets, both poor-paying and little esteem: Weird Tales and Real Detective Tales. Weird Tales had just got a new editor, Farnsworth Wright but the first Estil Critchie was probably purchased by Edwin Baird, the original editor. Baird was also editor of Real Detective Tales. Burks owed his discovery to this often forgotten Pulpster.

1924

“Thus Spake the Prophetess” (Weird Tales, November 1924) as Estil Critchie

“Voodoo” (Weird Tales, December 1924) as Estil Critchie

1925

“Luisma’s Return” (Weird Tales, January 1925)

“Letter” (Weird Tales, January 1925) In this letter, the editor outs Burks as the author of “Thus Spake the Prophetess”. Burks votes on the stories in that issue but doesn’t chose his own. He voted for one-hit wonder “Teoquitla the Golden” by Ramòn de las Cuevas. Of it he says: “…His description of the old beggar woman took me bodily back to the West Indies…” AJB also votes yes for more Horror stories. He begins with: “…and instead of banging out a thousand words this evening as is my wont, I lighted the old corncob and began to read…” This may be the first record of his writing habits we have. He was not a professional yet and would have to write in his spare time.

“Master of Silence” (Real Detective Tales, January-March 1925)

With the next story, Arthur J. Burks began his first series, the Santo Domingo tales. The artwork for the series would be re-used for each story, a trick that Farnsworth Wright would repeat with H. Warner Munn’s Tales of the Werewolf Clan.

“A Broken Lamp-Chimney” (Weird Tales, February 1925)

“Desert of the Dead” (Weird Tales, March 1925)

“Unlucky Money” (Real Detective Tales, March 1925)

“Daylight Shadows” (Weird Tales, April 1925)

“Letter” (Weird Tales, April 1925) His letters continue to appear in the same issues he has stories. AJB votes for “Whispering Tunnels” by Stephen Bagby. Other commentators mentioned Burks’ “Broken Lamp” as the best story.

“The Poisoner” (Real Detective Tales, April May 1925)

“The Sorrowful Sisterhood” (Weird Tales, May 1925)

“The Phantom Chibo” (Weird Tales, June 1925)

“The House of the Curse” (Real Detective Tales, July 1925)

“Black Medicine” (Weird Tales, August 1925) This story would give Burks his first cover for Weird Tales. He used this tale as the lead piece in his Arkham House collection Black Medicine in 1966.

“The Purple Dragon” (Real Detective Tales, August/September 1925)

“Threatening Fangs” (Real Detective Tales, October/November 1925)

“Vale of the Corbies” (Weird Tales, November 1925)

“Letter” (Weird Tales, November 1925) This letter is a very enthusiastic fan letter for Greye La Spina’s serial “The Gargoyle”. Burks is miffed that he has to wait until the next issue to finish it. He also says some things that are quite sexist about women writers but seems to drop these ideas after La Spina’s writing. (A literary device perhaps?) This is Burks’ last letter until Astounding Stories in 1931.

“When the Graves Were Opened” (Weird Tales, December 1925)

“The Man From the Sky” (Real Detective Tales, December 1925/January 1926)

1926

“Black Masquerade” (Real Detective Tales, February/March 1926)

“Something Toothsome” (Weird Tales, March 1926)

“Nemesis From the Air” (Real Detective Tales, April/May 1926) This hints at the numerous flying stories AJB will write in the future.

“The Ghost of Steamboat Coulee” (Weird Tales, May 1926)

“Asphodel” (Weird Tales, June 1926)

“Shrimp McGinnis from the Cactus Buttes” (Real Detective Tales, June/July 1926) hints at the occasional Western he will write.

“Yellow Pawns” (Real Detective Tales, August/September 1926)

“Speed!” (Real Detective Tales, November 1926)

“Orbit of Souls” (Weird Tales, December 1926)

“The Saurians of Enriquillo” (Wild Game Stories, December 1926) This sale shows Burks was looking for other markets. To his credit, he sold a piece on dinosaurs to a hunting and fishing mag. Later, he would re-use this material for “Borderland”, an SF piece for Thrilling Adventures.

Onto Part 2…