Magazine Review: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction April 1978

Cover by David Hardy, riffing on the classic War of the Worlds scene where the Thunder Child battles the tripods.

Magazine Review: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction April 1978 edited by Edward L. Ferman This issue of the long-running speculative fiction magazine is “All-British”, which the editorial material notes was one of the easiest theme issues to do, since they already had a number of stories by British authors on hand. They dug… Continue reading Magazine Review: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction April 1978

Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine June 1952

This cover does not depict any of the stories within. Make up your own mystery!

Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine June 1952 edited by Ellery Queen This is the last issue of EQMM I have to hand, but someday I hope to get out to garage sales again…. “Homecoming” by Veronica Parker Johns was inspired, so the introduction says, by the Kefauver hearings and the author getting a much… Continue reading Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine June 1952

Magazine Review: Science Fiction Adventures May 1954

Cover by Clarence Doore, neither of these scenarios appear in this issue.

Magazine Review: Science Fiction Adventures May 1954 edited by Harry Harrison This is the final issue of the magazine, one of the Lester del Rey-edited issues of which I reviewed earlier. We open the issue with “The Science in Science Fiction”, an editorial by Harry Harrison. He’s thrilled about the expansion of types of science… Continue reading Magazine Review: Science Fiction Adventures May 1954

Magazine Review: High Adventure #47: The Case of the Black Lotus

Magazine Review: High Adventure #47: The Case of the Black Lotus edited by John P. Gunnison The success of Sax Rohmer’s classic villain Fu Manchu led to other writers trying to create their own Yellow Peril master villains. A couple of them even got their own short-lived pulp magazines. This magazine reprints the stories from… Continue reading Magazine Review: High Adventure #47: The Case of the Black Lotus

Magazine Review: High Adventure #172: The Hell’s Angels Squad

Magazine Review: High Adventure #172: The Hell’s Angels Squad edited by John P. Gunnison This time around, the focus is on the French Foreign Legion stories of Warren Hastings Miller originally published in Blue Book magazine back in the late 1920s. As I’ve discussed before, tales of the Legion were a popular subgenre of pulp… Continue reading Magazine Review: High Adventure #172: The Hell’s Angels Squad

Magazine Review: Strange Fantasy Spring 1970

The stories illustrated on the cover are, from left, "The Shrine of Temptation", "Sword of Flowers" and "Planet of Change".

Magazine Review: Strange Fantasy Spring 1970 “Strange Fantasy” was a short-lived reprint digest-sized magazine from Ultimate Publishing. This issue’s stories were originally published between 1959 and 1964, which somewhat belies the cover text. “The Shrine of Temptation” by Judith Merril starts us off with an anthropologist’s tale of a mysterious shrine on an isolated island.… Continue reading Magazine Review: Strange Fantasy Spring 1970

Magazine Review: The Phantom Detective September 1935

Magazine Review: The Phantom Detective September 1935 Quick recap: The Phantom is Richard Curtis Van Loan, a wealthy man-about-town. While he started fighting crime out of boredom and a chance to get thrills, he soon developed a burning hatred of crime and major criminals that allow him to carry on a crusade. A master of… Continue reading Magazine Review: The Phantom Detective September 1935

Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine June 1953

Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine June 1953 edited by Ellery Queen Since this has floated to the top of my TBR pile, let’s look at another vintage issue of this classic mystery magazine. The cover depicting an aerialist falling to presumed death after being stuck with a dart has nothing to do with any… Continue reading Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine June 1953

Magazine Review: Oh Reader, Issue 001

Magazine Review: Oh Reader, Issue 001 edited by Gemma Peckham So it turns out publishers are still starting new print magazines in this calamitous year of 2020. Fittingly, it’s a magazine for and about people who like to read. The primary focus, at least in this issue, is essays on various aspects of reading. The… Continue reading Magazine Review: Oh Reader, Issue 001

Magazine Review: High Adventure #171: Far East Fiction of Frederick Moore

Magazine Review: High Adventure #171: Far East Fiction of Frederick Moore edited by John P. Gunnison In this pulp reprint issue, we’re off to the exotic South Seas, in particular Malaysia. According to the introduction, although Frederick Moore’s byline listed him as “Captain”, there’s no record of him ever earning that title. “The Cloth of… Continue reading Magazine Review: High Adventure #171: Far East Fiction of Frederick Moore