Arthur J. Burks - Part 5: 1931 - Dark Worlds Quarterly

Selling to Harry Bates at Astounding, Burks returns to Horror fiction with the same editor (for 2c a word) and Weird Tales is a memory. Farnsworth Wright paid 1c or less on publication, so Strange Tales was by far the better option. Other Weird Tales regulars like Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, Henry Kuttner, August Derleth and Robert Bloch all took advantage of this new magazine. Unfortunately for these authors, Strange Tales would only have seven issues and disappear along with the entire Clayton chain. Touching base with Horror writing will come in handy when the Shudder Pulps blossom a few years later.

1931 sees a shrinking of titles and sales, only just over two a month. The Depression is taking a toll and Pulps are disappearing. Looking at the bulk of these stories, AJB is still largely a writer of air stories. Burks adds Miracle Science and Fantasy Stories, a Science Fiction Pulp edited and illustrated by the Dold brothers. It will not last long but it does give Burks a second market for SF.

1931 was the year that Burks and Norvell W. Page started the American Fiction Guild, a group of Pulp writers and editors that met at Rosoff’s Restaurant on 43rd Street in New York City. Seventy-five to a hundred writers had membership at ten dollars a year. Frank Gruber wrote about a meeting in The Pulp Jungle (1967).

January

“Red Hot Big Shots” (Gangland Stories, January 1931)

“Swords of Samurai” (All-Fiction, January 1931)

February

“Flight of the Yellow Girdle” (Airplane Stories, February 1931)

“The Hands of Saratoff” (High Spot Magazine, February 1931)

“Scourge of San Domingo” (Flying Aces, February 1931)

“Silver Bullets” (All-Fiction, February 1931)

“Yellow Jacket” (War Birds, February 1931)

March

“The Nest of the Mongols” (Complete Sky Novel, March 1931)

“Twisty” (All-Fiction, March 1931)

“The Valley of Stone Spruces” (Far-East Adventure Stories, March 1931)

April

“Flutes of An Ma” (Complete Stories, April 1, 1931)

“Hell on Wheels” (Airplane Stories, April 1931)

“The Keys to Gramercy Park” (Amazing Detective, April 1931)

May

“Children of the Stars” (Zoom, April/May 1931)

“Mad Marionettes” (Miracle Science and Fantasy Stories, April/May 1931)

June

“Manape the Mighty” (Astounding Stories, June 1931) For more on Manape go here.

“Letter From NY” (Astounding Stories, June 1931) Burks discusses the creation of Manape, giving the editor credit for inspiration. He mentions Edgar Rice Burroughs and Edgar Allan Poe as precursors. ERB had The Mastermind of Mars in 1927. Poe’s famous ape villain in the Mystery “The Murder in the Rue Morgues” dates back to 1841. For the rest of the letter, he surmises possible sequels, which he will write in 1932.