If you missed the last one…
After the last two years, 1926-1927 seem thin, indeed. Only one Edgar Rice Burroughs novel, and it’s a Western. (Tarzan was appearing over at the higher paying Blue Book and would for several more years. John Carter showed up in Amazing Stories Annual, 1927) Ralph Milne Farley continues his Radio Planet series and A. Merritt gave us The Seven Footprints to Satan but most of the rest is work by lesser lights. The competition from other Pulps was being felt, though Gernsback is still using reprints and Weird Tales pays on publication. Despite this, Ray Cummings sold “Into the Fourth Dimension” (Science and Invention, September 1926-May 1927) to Gernsback, “They Hanged a Phantom for Murder ” to Ghost Stories, January 1927 and “Explorers into Infinity” (Weird Tales, April May June 1927) to Farnsworth Wright. The competition is here!
1926
The Vanishing Professor by Fred MacIsaac (January 9-30, 1926) in four parts. MacIsaac has fun with H. G. Wells’s invisible man but being a sunnier writer we don’t get any of that grim Wellsian stuff.
“The Trampling Horde” by Paul L. Anderson (January 16, 1926)
The Seal of Satan by Fred MacIsaac (February 6-March 6, 1926) in five parts
Sea Lure by Richard Barry (February 20-March 12, 1926)) in five parts is the first of two tales from this Hollywood screenwriter.
“The Devil-Fish” by Elinore Cowan Stone (March 6, 1926) Reprinted in A. Merritt’s Fantasy Magazine, October 1950 It is interesting that Virgil Finlay chose to draw the Hawaiian girl instead of the giant octopus in the reprint. Or is it?
“The Return” by Katharine Haviland Taylor (April 17, 1926)
“The Thing That Hunts in the Night” by Marshal South (May 15, 1926)
“The Smiling Man” by John D. Swain (June 19, 1926)
The Radio Planet by Ralph Milne Farley (June 26-July 3, 1926) in six parts. This was the third installment from Roger Sherman Hoar under his famous pseudonym. When he gathered with other SF fans, they called him Farley, not Hoar. Reprinted in Famous Fantastic Mysteries Combined with Fantastic Novels Magazine, April 1942. Great Frank R. Paul illos in the reprint.
“The Genius Epidemic” by John Wilstach (June 26, 1926)
The Great Commander by Fred MacIsaac (July 3-24, 1926) in four parts
The Future Eve by Villiers de l’Isle-Adam (December 18, 1926-January 22, 1927) in six parts. This is a translation of the 1886 French novel. The selection of such an old serial suggests the editors were finding it hard to get new novels. (If Gernsback could do it, why not Argosy?) It was an important tale in the history of SF since it popularized the term “Android” and stars a fictionalized Thomas Edison.
1927
The War Chief by Edgar Rice Burroughs (April 16-May 14, 1927) in five parts. This is the first of two novels about Shoz-Dijiji, the Black Bear, adopted son of Geronimo. The Apache Devil will appear in 1928.
“The World in the Balance” by J. P. Marshall (April 16, 1927) This was the first Professor Maynard story with a sequel in 1929. Invaders come to Earth from Saturn with an ultimatum of surrender. Reprinted in Famous Fantastic Mysteries, November 1939
“The Lost Road to Yesterday” by Garret Smith (May 7, 1927)
Seven Footprints to Satan by A. Merritt (July 2-30, 1927) in five parts was reprinted in Argosy in 1939. Merritt always surprised readers. When you thought he would give you another lost world tale he turns around and writes a Weird Mystery novel instead. This one feels a little like a Sax Rohmer bit, with a mastermind criminal called Satan. It received a film version 1928. Reprinted in Fantastic Novels Magazine, January 1949
“Venus or Earth?” by Will McMorrow (July 9, 1927) A short sequel to The Sun-Makers (1925) with Earth and Venus in a war. Reprinted in Famous Fantastic Mysteries, April 1941
“Scourge of the Seven Seas” by Garret Smith (July 17, 1927)
“The Despised Comet” by Garret Smith (August 13, 1927) has Professor Marvin Clyde discovering a comet on a collision course with Earth.
“Going Down!” by W. E. Parkhurst and William B. Seabrook (September 3, 1927)
The Sun Test by Richard Barry (September 17-October 22, 1927) in six parts
The Return of George Washington by George F. Worts (October 15-November 19, 1927) in six parts has the first president reincarnated by a mad scientist. Too bad it proves to be a hoax!
Conrad the Saxon by Joseph Ivers Lawrence (October 29-November 12, 1927) in three parts
“A World of Indexed Numbers” by Will McMorrow (December 17, 1927) has air cities and fleets of airplanes to attack them. Reprinted in Famous Fantastic Mysteries, May-June 1940
Conclusion
The number of reprints in Famous Fantastic Mysteries suggests this two year period is not quite as bad as I thought. Still, who wants The Return of George Washington by George F. Worts when you could have had another Tarzan novel (even a potboiler) or some Ray Cummings, Murray Leinster or Otis Adelbert Kline? Many of the familiar SF names are absent. Argosy-only SF writers Garret Smith, Paul L. Anderson and Will McMorrow all made appearances. These men were the smart ones who sold to Argosy rather than to the lower-paying Hugo Gernsback. Financially a better idea, but ultimately, they were forgotten by most SF critics since they did not appear in what were usually considered the important publications (in retrospect).
Next time…we finish the decade...1928-1929
