Old Black Magic would not be out of place in Weird Tales. But what about Short Stories? The truth is both magazines were edited by Dorothy McIlwraith after 1939. Dorothy would use writers and artists from both magazines interchangeably. One of these writers was Bert David Ross. He began in Short Stories with tales of fishing adventure with stories like “Scandia Reef” (Short Stories, June 25, 1944), “Overflow” (Short Stories, October 25, 1944) and “Luck Plus X” (Short Stories, February 25, 1945, an issue with a Lee Brown Coye cover). It was only natural that a writer who followed the brave fishermen of the Pacific and Alaskan coast should find himself writing a Northern. And a strange Northern at that.
“Old Black Magic” appeared in Short Stories, May 10, 1945. It may have been written earlier since the main character is intent on getting a job as a riveter in a shipyard during World War II. Before he can do this, he must fulfill a promise to a pal. Yukon Harris has carried a heavy package all the way from the North to Seattle, WA. He goes to the tall Smith Building to see “Straight Shooter” McGinnis. Yukon gets past the secretary to see McGinnis and give him a strange item, the ugliest Indian totem ever carved.
Yukon explains that his pard, Charlie King, has died in a tunnel collapse. McGinnis, who made his fortune up north, not panning but supplying miners, remembers Charlie King. He recalls that Charlie continued to mine a worthless property while others sought out gold. Yukon has inherited the hole but plans to sell it or walk away. Charlie remembered that McGinnis had done right by him and willed the ugly totem to the businessman. Both men recall how Charlie lugged the carving around with him everywhere he went. He had had it specially made by a local native carver.
Yukon is in a hurry to apply for his riveting job but McGinnis asks him to wait. He removes the foot of the idol, pouring out black sand on the desk. Yukon is offending, seeing he could have opened the idol and dumped the extra weight. The thing was heavy to lug all the way from the gold fields. McGinnis laughs. He tells Yukon to keep his mine. The men will split the proceeds fifty-fifty. Why would Yukon Harris want fifty percent of nothing? The black sand is platinum.
Ross introduces the evil-looking totem but doesn’t really push the supernatural much despite the title. “Old Black Magic” proves to be a reference to the black gold inside. Unlike Robert Bloch’s “The Totem Pole” (Weird Tales, August 1939), the totem’s ugliness serves another purpose, a distraction from the treasure inside.
Ross would write four more adventure stories for Short Stories between 1946-47, but it is his two Weird Tales entries that are more interesting here. Having sold a strange Northern to Dorothy McIlwraith, Ross tries his hand at an actual supernatural tale in “Not Human” (Weird Tales, September 1946). This one is set in India where an evil being called a “tulka” prays on unsuspecting victims. This “not human” creature is created by another, who draws energy from its victims to sustain it. When the creator dies, so does its tulka. The heroes must trap the monster inside steel walls to destroy it.
Ross’s final story for any magazine was “The Last Adam and Eve” (Weird Tales, November 1947). Ross destroys the earth in a great cataclysm so his Adam and Eve can explore the dying world. Oddly, he has gangsters hiding in the hills of Kentucky to offer problems to the couple. The piece is an obvious reflection on the Bible story belonging to that Science Fiction cliche of Adam and Eve stories.
Having written a handful of stories, Bert David Ross fades from the pages of the Pulps. Did he die, go back to fishing, or simply move on to other pursuits? We will never know as with so many Pulpsters. “Old Black Magic” and his Weird Tales stories proved to be his most memorable work.
