SF Pulp Authors in Boys’ Life

Boys’ Life is the magazine of the Boy Scouts of America. It began publishing in March 1911 and is still going to this day. The magazine featured many famous writers such as Jim Kjelgaard (who would write the Big Red novels and other dog books), Robb White (who would write Death Watch), Irving J. Crump (who wrote the Og,Son of Fire series) and many others including Western writers like Stephen Payne, Gordon D. Shirriffs and Bill Pronzini in later years.

Now some of these famous names also wrote Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror. They didn’t necessarily write it for Boys’ Life though. The 1950s did begin to feature Science Fiction as Robert A. Heinlein popularized that genre for juvenile readers. Authors are arranged by first appearance.

Hugh B. Cave

Hugh B. Cave had the longest association with Boys’ Life, 1944-1962. He wrote all manner of adventure tales, not anything like his Pulp work at the time. Cave spent 1936-1938 writing Shudder Pulps of the most gruesome sort. The Boys’ Life stories begin with naval war then move onto jungle and sea adventures, not all that different than what Cave might have written for the men’s magazines. One connection between his juvenile and adult work is the later stories are set in Haiti. Cave wrote horror novels and non-fiction books on Haiti. He also wrote for all kinds of slicks as well as Pulps and writing for Boys’ Life would not have been a challenge. He was a consummate professional.

“Worth Fightin’ For” (April 1944)

“Midget Sluggers” (July 1944)

“Just Fishin’ Isn’t Enough” (May 1947)

“The Test” (April 1948)

“River to Nowhere” (May 1948)

“Treasure Deep” (June 1950)

“River of Voices” (February 1952)

“The Specter in the Pool” (May 1952)

“Trapped in the Tomb” (September 1953)

“The Phantom Moth” (August 1954)

“Flight of the Jungle Bird” (February 1956)

“Terror in the Temple” (April 1957)

“Troubled Water” (November 1957)

“Voodoo Village” (June 1959)

“The Wailing Waters” (February 1960)

“Peril in the Gorge” (October 1961)

“The Unwanted” (April 1962)

Manly Wade Wellman

Manly Wade Wellman began with a Mystery series called The Sleuth Scouts. He also revisited the idea around the Hok the Mighty series in “The Country of the Hair-Faces”. Wellman always showed respect for all cultures and he does again in “The Indian Sign”. “Tall Bram of Little Pigeon” was the nugget that would become the book The Mystery of Lost Valley and the Sleuth Scouts got a book too. Whether Wellman had written these and wanted to promote the future book or simply used the stories to make a book, I don’t know.

“The Sleuth Scouts” (June 1946)

“The Country of the Hair-Faces” (December 1946)

“Tall Bram of Little Pigeon” (April 1947) (Reprinted February 1956)

“Let’s Haunt a House” (December 1947)

“The Indian Sign” (November 1948)

Robert A. Heinlein

Robert A. Heinlein was a slick operator. He knew that his new juvenile Science Fiction novels would appeal to a certain kind of boy, a Boy Scout. He serialized four pieces, including two novels. Heinlein is famous for being the first author to sell Science Fiction to the slicks with “The Green Hills of Earth” appearing in The Saturday Evening Post on February 8, 1947, paving the way for writers like Ray Bradbury.

“Nothing Ever Happens on the Moon” (April-May 1949)

“Satellite Scout” (August-November 1950) (aka Farmer in the Sky)

“Tramp Space Ship” (September-December 1952) (aka Space Family Stone)

“A Tenderfoot in Space” (May-July 1958)

Wallace West

Wally West was a popular writer of Space Opera for the Pulps, getting his start in Weird Tales. Later he was one of John W. Campbell’s Golden Age of Science Fiction crew. A lawyer and public relations man, he never dedicated himself full-time to writing. His Boys’ Life stories feature a regular gang of characters lead by Scoops. His stories feature space travel and computers.

“Second Harvest” (May 1955)

“Bread Upon the Water” (June 1955)

“Scoop Gets a Birdie” (August 1955)

“A Better Mousetrap” (June 1957)

“Traffic Jimjams at Laurel Creek” (July 1957)

“Curse of the Cliff Dwellers” (April 1958)

D. S. Halacy Jr.

Daniel Stephen Halacy Jr. wrote mostly non-fiction about Science but he also wrote the occasional Pulp story and later juvenile novels for the library trade. His Boys’ Life stories range from Sports to Westerns though “Latch On!” features jets.

“Strictly By Instinct” (April 1956)

“Latch On!” (December 1956)

“Challenge in the Desert” (December 1957)

“Ride the Rough String” (February 1958)

Alan E. Nourse

Alan E. Nourse was a popular Galaxy and Astounding writer, focusing his novels on medicine in the future. The title of his book about future surgeons called Blade Runner, was co-opted for the Philip K. Dick movie with acknowledgements. His short stories are funny and satirical. He only wrote one story for Boys’ Life, perhaps because they botched his name on the contents page.

“Foldboat Fool” (April 1958)

These are by no means all the Science Fiction authors that appeared in Boys’ Life. Isaac Asimov wrote four pieces between 1968 and 1975. He wrote about life in space but also did some mysteries, both areas he covered in his adult fiction.

Isaac Asimov

“The Proper Study” (September 1968)

“The Heavenly Host” (December 1974)

“Try Sarah Topps” (February 1975)

“Santa Claus Gets a Coin” (December 1975)

I have concentrated on the 1950s largely. I always find it interesting to see Pulp writers working in other places. Writers like Paul Ernst and Nelson S. Bond were frequently in slicks and other magazines and easily made the transition to magazine and book writing after the Pulps died.