Pulp magazines are just plain awesome. For readers of old-time literature, they're colorful time capsules of the nostalgic past that any time traveler would love to visit, and they've held a fascination for me since I learned of their existence. I couldn't say how many times I've fantasized of stepping into a turn-of-the-century Five and Dime and plucking mint issues of Argosy and Weird Tales off the racks--imagine gazing on freshly printed copies of the February 1912 issue of The All-Story which contained the opening chapters of Edgar Rice Burroughs's Under the Moons of Mars… holy freaking smokes!

But pulp mags (so named, BTW, after the cheap, wood pulp paper on which they were printed) aren't just cool. Those periodicals were important--crucial, rather--stepping stones for many authors in the fields I best love--science fiction, fantasy, sword and sorcery, horror. Pert near all of my favorite authors began their careers writing for periodicals. Aside from ERB who was mentioned above, there was Edmond Hamilton, Robert E. Howard, H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith… and of course (you know me) together with a bevy of others, one of the guys I most enjoy collecting--A. Merritt.

Merritt has been published in probably every conceivable media platform conceivable--magazines, hardback, paperback, comic adaptation, radio, film and television, blogs. It flat out would not surprise me to discover there had been some obscure, live production of Three Lines of Old French at some point somewhere.

When Merritt hit the scene in 1917 with his short story Through the Dragon Glass, which appeared in Frank Munsey's All-Story Weekly, he took to the field like a knight tossing a gauntlet to the ground at a tourney. He swiftly became a force to be reckoned with in the writing field and publishers took notice. His works began almost instantly to appear in hardcover editions, with the first arriving only two years after his first appearance with G. P. Putnam's Sons' 1919 edition of The Moon Pool.

So, considering his nigh instant success, one might think Merritt would leave the humble periodical behind although it had certainly boosted him before the eyes of a star-struck fan base; yet he didn't. Although hard cover editions of his novels followed rapidly on the heels of their release in the periodicals, Merritt had multitudes of fans in the readers of Argosy/All-Story Weekly. The magazines, at 10₵ per copy--a far more economical alternative to their more durable cousins--certainly played a hand in his continuing popularity in that medium as well.

Okay, bla bla bla. Enough already, you say! You want to get into the fun part--the pictures--and I'm dying to share what little I have on this topic.

Unfortunately, I only have the one Argosy pictured above (Creep Shadow was so illusive back in pre-internet days that I still cannot walk past an edition I don't have, so I succumbed and had to have it).

Thus, the focus of this article is another magazine for which Merritt is as famous for his appearance in as he was Argosy/All-Story--that being (psst, Virgil--drum roll, dude!)… Famous Fantastic Mysteries.

Wow, that artwork. As an aside allow me to just say that one can hardly pursue collecting the works of A. Merritt without almost synchronously and completely without effort begin developing a deep and abiding affection for the artwork of Virgil Finlay, if such did not already exist.

Famous Fantastic Mysteries (1939-1953) came decades after Argosy and All-Story with the idea being to capitalize in reprints of Argosy &etc stories past. For new readers these weren't rehashing stories they had already read--they were new to them. And for readers who had read these older stories with relish years earlier, they now savored rereading them (just as we do today with our own favorites). But reprinting older stories wasn't all Munsey Co. did when they launched FFM; those top-performer yarns from years past were then combined with art by artists such as the aforementioned Virgil Finlay and Lawrence Stevens. The new offering was a huge hit for the Munsey company right out of the gate.

One of the fascinating aspects of these old magazines are the authors you are sometimes unaware of whom you discover in the exploration of their pages, making them slightly resemble the classic paperback anthologies that I also collect in that respect. I discovered Philip M. Fisher when I bought my first pulp magazine, the June 1942 edition of FFM which, besides Merritt's Burn Witch Burn, also featured Fisher's creepy Beyond the Pole. Fisher's Fungus Isle, which appeared alongside Merritt's by-then famous The Face in the Abyss (FFM October 1940) is another good yarn.

Just amazing, Virgil!

I love this narrow side banner from FFM's August 1941 edition, featuring The Metal Monster. Virgil certainly had his work cut out visually imagining the works of A. Merritt, for sure.

With the success of Famous Fantastic Mysteries, Munsey Co soon launched Fantastic Novels--a companion publication for full length novels featuring the same or similar authors and artists.

The A. Merritt's Fantasy Magazine was short lived, spanning but five issues. These aren't in the greatest shape, but it is the complete run and the only title in which I have all the issues. This one came long after Merritt's death in 1943 and was an attempt to continue to capitalize on the Father of Fantasy (a theme which has continued to this day). The issues spanned from December 1949 to October 1950 and were printed every other month until the magazine folded. In the image below, notice the tape top and bottom where someone tried to reinforce the cover.

I thought this WW1 battlefield scene was simply a superb, grim and astounding piece by Finlay.

Remember the picture above with the tape top and bottom on the cover? Well, one thing I'm always mindful of when sliding these old magazines from their storage bags, is the tape, if present. Do yourself a favor, and don't skip pulling this sticky, destructive mess off the storage bag. If a piece of tape happens to adhere to a cover, you'll regret not having done so. Best to play it safe with these old mags. I strongly advise helping to preserve them for future generations.

This cool memorial to Merritt was submitted by Virgil Finlay and printed in the October 1950 issue of The A. Merritt Fantasy Magazine, which was the final issue of the run. Pretty darn awesome, I think.

Fellow Merritt fans, I hope you enjoyed this--mostly--pictorial exploration of Merritt of the Mags. I wanted to close by noting that periodicals are not dead. Nope, they are still very much in existence, and authors still get published in them--just like back in the day. I've yet to submit a story to one myself, but D. M. Ritzlin of DMR Books has, and scored a slot in Cirsova for the Spring 2019 issue, as well as the upcoming Spring 2020 issue, which is awesome.

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One last thing I wished to mention is The Pulp Magazine Archive. On this site you can browse many (let me reiterate that -- many!) pulp magazines that have been scanned into the site. You can flip through whatever pulp you select, page by page. It's incredible, allows anyone to explore these old magazines, and is a cheap alternative to buying the precious old crumbling bastions of writing that was once considered throw away.

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About Chris L Adams

I spent years playing guitar, in and out of bands, and during that time was more of a voracious reader than a writer. After that last band collapsed, I turned from writing songs to writing stories, eventually turning out a half million-word Barsoom series as a tribute to Edgar Rice Burroughs and a host of self-published short stories and poems. Something inside drives me to create, and so together with writing stories and playing guitar, I also dabble in painting.

You may find me on my website, www.ChrisLAdamsBizarreTales.com. There, you’ll find any pertinent links, information on available stories, and other things you might find of interest. I love talking about favorite authors, writing and collecting books so if you can't find what you're looking for, shoot me an email.