Arthur J. Burks - Part 8: 1934 - Dark Worlds Quarterly

1934 saw Arthur J. Burks get to work, writing about 4.5 stories a month. The majority of these were aviation stories once again. With the collapse of the Clayton chain, Science Fiction is set aside except for one fanzine appearance and a monster tale for Thrilling Adventures. This is an AJB who is working certain magazines hard, like Sky Fighters, in which he appeared every month in 1934. These are single stories, with only one serial, a two-parter. Aviation, detective and adventure tales are his bread-and-butter.

Next year will see a change in AJB’s production with the introduction of a new kind of Pulp, the Weird Menace or Shudder Pulps. These over-the-top grue magazines paid as much as three cents a word to the writer who could handle the formula. Arthur J. Burks is about to include his name next to the masters like Arthur Leo Zagat, John H. Knox, Wayne Rogers and Henry Kuttner.

January

“The Ace from Hell” (Sky Fighters, January 1934)

“The Beanpole Ace” (War Birds, January 1934)

“China Star” (George Bruce’s Squadron, January 1934)

“Flame of Death” (Thrilling Detective, January 1934)

“Sight Unseeing” (Strange Detective Stories, January 1934)

“Spheres of Cathay” (All-Detective, January 1934)

“Voodooed Clouds” (George Bruce’s Contact, January 1934)

“With Lead and Steel” (Thrilling Adventures, January 1934)

February

“The Balloon Buster” (Sky Fighters, February 1934)

“Feathers of Fate” (Strange Detective Stories, February 1934)

“The High Hatter” (George Bruce’s Squadron, February 1934)

“Pouter Pigeon” (War Birds, February 1934)

“Precision” (Nick Carter Magazine, February 1934)

March

“Challenge” (War Birds, March 1934)

“Copper Courage” (Thrilling Detective, March 1934)

“Design for Murder” (All-Detective, March 1934)

“Falcon Fury” (Sky Fighters, March 1934)

‘The Guillotine” (George Bruce’s Contact, March 1934)

April

“Bells of Oceana” Reprinted in Weird Tales, April 1934 Arthur J. Burks would have received no money for this as Weird Tales bought all rights. They then resold the stories to anthologies or re-used them in their magazine without cost. For more on reprints in Weird Tales, go here.