If you missed the last one…
1930 is the year Arthur J. Burks tries his hand at Science Fiction for the first time. The magazine he chose for this is the brand new Astounding Stories of Super-Science. Harry Bates, editor for the Clayton chain, started the Pulp after seeing copies of Amazing Stories and Wonder Stories. He didn’t really understand SF at the beginning so solid professional Pulpsters, whether writers of Mystery or Westerns, were his first authors. Burks certainly falls into this category in 1930. The 2 cent a word pay would have grabbed his attention, no doubt. He was willing to learn to write SF for that kind of money. (Remember some Pulps paid as low as 1/4 cent a word.)
Burks joined writers like Tom Curry, Hugh B. Cave, Robert H. Leithead, and C. V. Tench, not names associated with Science Fiction. There were also SF writers from Argosy like Murray Leinster and Ray Cummings as well as Harl Vincent, R. F. Starzl, Paul Ernst from competitor’s mags. The difference is that Burks would still be around when John W. Campbell took over in 1938.
The majority of AJB’s output was still flying magazines, though several titles met with abrupt ends in 1930. (Pulps were notorious for dropping poor-sellers.) The Lindbergh craze is calming down to a number of prominent titles. Burks added Ace’s The Golden West Magazine, Street & Smith’s Air Trails and Complete Stories, Clayton’s Sky-High Library Magazine and Wide World Adventure, Fiction House’s Far East Adventure Stories and Dell’s All-Fiction, War Aces and War Novels to his markets. Burks is writing for several editors now, not relying on Fiction House alone. He is writing over three stories a month, down from his earlier five. Better pay and longer stories may account for this.
January
“Cloud Gamblers” (Air Stories January 1930)
“Haunted Hangars” (Flyers, January-February 1930)
“Sky-Trail Vikings” (Flight, January 1930)
February
“Aces Wild” (Sky-High Library Magazine, February 1930)
“The Mercy of Marquard” (Eagles of the Air, February 1930)
“Nothing but Courage” (Fight Stories, February 1930)
“The Red Flyer” (Action Novels, February 1930)
“The Starling” (Air Stories, February 1930)
“The Swagger-Stick Baron” (Air Trails, February 1930)
“Wings of Hatred” (Flying Stories, February 1930)
March
“Marquard and Ghurga’s Key” (Eagles of the Air March/April 1930)
“Wings of Chaos” (Flyers, March 1930) This cover looks Science Fictiony, like it belongs on Hugo Gernsback’s Air Wonder Stories.
April
“Crimson Skies” (Aces, April 1930)
“Monsters of Moyen” (Astounding Stories of Super-Science, April 1930) This was his first SF serial, after only writing one story.
“Sky Command” (Flying Stories, April 1930)
May
“Guns of the Gangs” (Gangster Stories, May 1930)
“Night Hawks” (Wings, May 1930)
“Sky Soldier” (Flying Stories, May 1930)
June
“Dog-Bears of Shallajai” (Wide World Adventures, June 1930)
“Hell-on-Wheels Marquard” (Eagles of the Air, June 1930)
“Wings of Caribbee” (Flying Stories, June 1930)
July
“Earth, the Marauder” (Astounding Stories of Super-Science July August September 1930)
“The Hornet Hopper” (Aces, July 1930)
“The Unsung Dead” (War Aces, July 1930)
August
“Black Pearl Wong” (Eagles of the Air, August 1930)
“The Wisperer” (Gangster Stories, August 1930)
“The Crash Wagon” (Flying Stories, August 1930)
September
“The Coffin Patrol” (Action Stories, September 1930)
October
“The Baron Flies” (Complete Stories, October 15, 1930)
“The Cat Moll” (Gangster Stories, October 1930)
“Ever Faithful” (War Novels, October 1930)
“The Eyes of Ling Shan” (Far East Adventure Stories, October 1930)
“Wings of China” (Air Trails, October 1930)
November
“Eyes of the Night” (The Golden West Magazine, November 1930) AJB’s first all-Western Pulp?
“The King of the Pavements” (All Star Detective Stories, November 1930)
“Lair of the Black Locust” (Sky Birds, November 1930)
“Man Stuff” (Action Stories, November 1930)
“The Phantom Sampan” (Far East Adventure Stories, November 1930)
December
“The Daisy Pushers” (War Birds, December 1, 1930)
“Jinx Hour” (Sky Birds, December 1930)
“Leatherneck” (Action Stories, December 1930)
“The Rape of Chin-Ling” (All-Fiction, December 1930)
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